Iced Over
by WingedVampireGirl
Summary: She trusted him greatly. "How do you know you don't like it, if you won't try it?" Amy asked him softly as she gripped his hand gently. She wondered if anyone at all would be able to defrost Shadow's cold and frozen heart. What would become of Sonic if he found out? Shadamy. Rating may go up.
1. Whisper

**I wrote this to two composed pieces I found on YouTube: 'Relaxing Gothic Music - Night Mist' and 'Relaxing Celtic Music - Morning Dew'. They can help set a feel to this story, so if you wish, you can try listening to these in the background.**

**My first Shadamy fic, pure Shadamy to develop later. **

**Iced Over**

**Chapter one – Whisper**

It was mid December and she usually enjoyed this time of year, her love for the fresh powdered snow, cosy fire and festivities never seemed to change, but winter felt different this year. Looking out at the falling snow once again, she wondered if her heart was as lost as her head made it seem. The rose pink hedgehog felt like she was growing further away from the ones she loved most, especially the one her head always believed she had belonged to; Sonic. Her heart told her it wanted to give up on this love that never seemed to progress; it knew it didn't belong to Sonic anymore. At first she denied theses feelings, told herself these feelings were all a mistake; why would she ever want to give up loving her hero? But as the days continued to pass, she was beginning to accept what it wanted.

Staring through the white descending flakes into the dark clouds that resembled Amy's unclear state of mind, her head was plagued with thoughts and questions. Could she ever let Sonic go? Without him would she die alone because she was unable to find another? She didn't know. What if he did love her? Some nights she pleaded for him to at least show a sign that he did have feelings for her, even if it was an indirect one, it would provide a glimmer of hope, make her heart hold on for a little while longer. She hoped this would happen soon.

Telling herself that her thoughts were pathetic and self-pitying, she rose from her chair and walked into her hallway where she grabbed a red knitted scarf and a red woolly hat before putting on a thick cream coat. Once she was done she left her house in hopes of clearing her head with some fresh, icy air.

* * *

Amy had been walking for around an hour. The snow had stopped falling by now; it had left a clean blanket of white over everything. Today she had decided to head in a different direction; she had turned a couple corners she didn't recognise but she wanted the path to lead her to an unknown destination anyway. Without knowing a single thing about where she was, she looked around. It seemed like she was by some kind of lake.

The water within the lake hadn't frozen over; it rippled calmly with the cold, light wind that blew over it, the breeze caused a shiver to make its way up her spine. Her hands were numb through her gloves because she'd been walking outside for so long but she'd gotten used to it on the way there.

Amy stood for a while and looked around her, the snow-coated bucolic environment and quiescent atmosphere had an extremely therapeutic effect, the sound of moving water strangely made all of her thoughts and worries slowly fade away, her head becoming empty as she stared deep into the murky depths of the lake.

So when she heard the crunching footsteps in the snow of someone turning away from a distance, it revived her from her inanimate state straight away. She turned around to see someone with their back to her standing underneath one of the many coniferous trees surrounding the lake. His outline seemed familiar and somewhat recognisable, squinting her eyes; the distinguished colours of the male made her recognise him almost immediately. She became tempted to approach him despite the feeling of uneasiness that had began to form in her chest, she couldn't understand why she had begun to feel this way, he wasn't exactly dangerous as such but she supposed he wasn't harmless either.

Shadow stood in the faint shade of the tree, the underside of his tan muzzle brushing against the wool of the deep green scarf he was wearing. He'd heard someone walk down to the banks of the lake, the snow made it almost impossible for someone to approach unknowingly; he had turned to find the pink hedgehog he recognised as Amy. He paid no mind to her and went back to what he was doing beforehand; brooding.

Amy questioned her logic as her feet began to move towards him, the soles of her boots sinking into the crispy snow. Did she have any logic? Why talk to Shadow? - She asked herself. But what did she have to lose? When she stopped behind his dark form, his ear twitched and he turned to face her, his arms folded across his chest.

"I didn't expect to see you here Shadow..." Amy told him as she ran her eyes over his body before wrapping her arms across her own body to heat herself up a bit, the sight of him made her feel even colder than she already was.

He glanced at her before turning to look over the lake again. "As did I." He answered showing no further interest in the conversation. He didn't dislike Amy, he could tolerate her due to the fact it was she who had helped him remember Maria's true dying wish, he was grateful to her for that.

She too, turned to look over the lake. "So do you come here often?" she asked him as she brushed a pink lock of short hair away from her emerald green eyes. They both stood with their shoulders aligned avoiding direct eye contact.

"What is it to you?" he asked in his deep monotone voice, a mysterious one nevertheless.

Amy didn't know what to make of his reply, but continued to act like she wasn't bothered. "Nothing, I was just wondering..." she told him. "It's just I stumbled across this place and it seems really nice. It's relaxing."

"It is." he agreed as he watched a robin hop along the branches of an evergreen bush, its red chest making it stand out through all of the white. It was very relaxing indeed. It was the only place that Shadow found adequate for his thinking, his alone time, the time he had when he wasn't working for G.U.N. He came here almost daily either at the beginning or the end of each day. This location was out of the way of the world, he was attracted to that aspect: Where not many people came by it and if they did, they kept quiet. It influenced how he felt and reacted to things, it channelled his aggression but most importantly, he felt closer to Maria here: he didn't know exactly why, but he knew she had always loved nature although she'd never been surrounded by it; she'd only ever saw it in books and fairytales, she was always fascinated by the colourful pictures that were full of life.

Amy turned her head to look at the side profile of his face; steady breaths made their way through his lips as he stood there, she watched as the hot vapour dispersed in front of his face. She'd always believed him to be alive; she knew deep down that he had emotions under that blank and unreadable front that was his face. She studied him in silence for quite a while, trying to be as perceptive as she could. Not once did he turn to look at her, instead he ignored the feeling of her eyes upon him. The silence dragged on between them; the constant sound of water filling it and the occasional rustling sound of snow-coated trees or a tweet from a robin red breast, blackbird or sparrow now and again.

"Do many people come along here?" Amy eventually asked as she finally took her curious eyes away from him, he was certainly an intriguing character, she'd always thought that of Shadow. He was the opposite of her hero in so many ways; that was one of the things Amy quite liked about him; she just wished he'd be a lot friendlier and open, that's all.

"Not many." he spoke as he turned to look at her; his blood-red crimson eyes piercing her sparkling emerald ones. Amy felt pressured almost instantly and looked away frantically but found that she was drawn to his eyes, she couldn't help herself from fixing her gaze on them again once she'd built up enough courage; she realised that his eyes read so many things even though he showed nothing at all through his facial features. He was calm. She could tell he was calm. When they were on the ARK years ago, he was angry and confused, she knew that much. It was refreshing to see him calm; to know that as time went on, an artificial life form could develop just like a living person. He wasn't the monster he was created to be, not like it at all. If he had chosen to be that monster back on the ARK all those years ago, things would've been a lot different by now. He wouldn't be the creature he was today; he'd be the monster that Professor Gerald had subjected him to be.

"I see..." she said as she took a deep breath of cold air, the icy air filled her lungs and made her aware that she was alive, it stung. "How are you? It's been a long time."

Shadow shook his head and turned away from her. "You ask a lot of questions." He stated neither angry or annoyed or pleased, it was frustrating for Amy; she couldn't tell if he was annoyed or unbothered or happy. She simply had no idea on how he felt if she couldn't see into his eyes.

"I'm sorry..." Amy replied as she stared at the shining black fur on his back, she could then tell quite clearly that her continuous attempts at creating conversation were irritating the ebony hedgehog. "It bothers you, doesn't it...? All my questions..." With nothing else to say, she closed her mouth; it was tricky trying to get him to talk, it was hard for her to even speak to him, he seemed so distant and cold, he and Amy's personalities had a strong contrast. She let out a sad sigh. Shadow would never become close to anyone, he'd always think into himself, he'd never share his thoughts or feelings to anyone; he simply didn't have anyone to share them with. She wasn't sure if he was afraid to become close to someone or if he generally had a cold and self indulgent personality... But it saddened her that he'd live his life out alone - even if he was unhappy with it. Amy's worst fear was dying alone.

He glanced over his shoulder to look at her. "We all ask questions." he told her before looking away and she quickly noticed that he had begun to leave, she became confused. What exactly did he mean by that? Amy raised her hand as if it would stop him, it didn't; she was unconscious of her action.

With a quick breath, she asked "Where are you going?" her heart suddenly panging at the thought of being on its own once again.

"That is my business." he stated before his skates kicked in, the surge of energy released from them lifted him off the ground and out of the snow to hover above it. Within a matter of seconds he had shot down the path on which Amy had come here by, leaving a scattered trail in the snow and with no type of farewell.

"Bye." She whispered as she was alone once again. Shivering, she began to make her way home; she wasn't sure how she'd do it but she'd keep a record on every corner she'd turn. She wanted to know how to get back here again.

Just as the snow began to fall, Amy set off on her journey home - for once her mind wasn't thinking of Sonic the Hedgehog.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or anything related to it, rightfully belongs to SEGA.**


	2. The She Wolf

**Thank you all so much for your kind words in the reviews, you made me all the more determined to write this next Ch. as soon as possible. I'm sorry if this Ch. seems repetitive but I had to get Amy and Shadow acquainted somehow. **

**I wrote this to a couple of bits of music from YouTube - 'The Voice by Celtic Woman', 'Celtic Music - Dance with the Trees', 'Mordred's Lullaby' and 'Celtic Mystic 09 Highland dance' - I do not own any of these songs, I am just simply in love with them.**

**Iced Over**

**Chapter 2 – The She Wolf**

The once thick clouds had separated, thinned and had fell from the skies during the night; they now weaved throughout the streets of Amy's village in the form of a morning mist. Through the drifting water droplets shone the rays of dawn's rising sun; it enveloped the village of Hedgerow in a faint orange glow, its lucent shine lessened by the wispy vapour.

Waking to a soft ringing to her ear, Amy rubbed her eyes groggily like anyone would at eight in the morning. Her sleepy eyes fell upon the green light of her alarm clock and she reached out and pushed the snooze button lazily, her arms heavy just after a deep sleep. After countless times of groaning and trying, she forced herself to slide out of her snug and soft bed. The sudden exposure to the chilly air made her regret it immediately but as Amy was strict with herself, she decided she had to go for her morning run; it was a tradition she felt strongly about.

She wandered throughout her house doing the usual just like she did almost every other early morning. Just as she readied herself to slip out the front door, she scooped up her mobile phone that she'd left on the hall table the night before and scanned it's locked screen only to find that she had three missed calls and a text message.

Her eyes widened in surprise and she let out a deflated breath. The three missed calls were form an unexpected person, they were all from Sonic; she wasn't even aware that his heroic highness used his phone - Amy'd got his number of Tails back in her obsessive days - he'd made it quite clear from the beginning that it was a burden on him; making excuse after excuse on why he shouldn't have one. Also, she hadn't seen face to face with Sonic for around two months, they hadn't even communicated in any way or form, Amy knew that he had valid reasons – she just couldn't accept what had happened. In fact, it was Amy who had distanced herself from the Blue-Blur.

The small revelation that Sonic had been trying to get in touch with her spiralled her mind into thought once again; since she saw Shadow yesterday, her mind had been less troubled, more at ease – this unsurprisingly bothered her too, but it was nice to awaken in the morning with a sense of wonder on what the day would bring forth, rather than awakening and feeling alone. Maybe seeing Shadow – who could be described as a loner as of such – made her realise things could be far worse for her... It was then she realised her thoughts were with Shadow and a soft smile passed onto her lips, with the sudden decision of where she would be taking her running route this morning; maybe he'd be there.

Turning her attention back to her phone, she opened the text with a distant look in her emerald eyes; they'd lost that happy shine when she discovered that it too, was from Sonic:

'**Hey Ames, u missed my calls so here's a short txt. Christmas dinner at mines this yr? It's Sonic by the way. xx'**

She bit her lip, unsure of what to text back. Amy was planning to head to her distant cousins' house for Christmas dinner this year, she felt like she needed a change. It was her who'd brought Sonic and the gang around every other past year and she was now mature enough to realise that Sonic only came for her cooking and not the mistletoe. Looking back at those times, she was ashamed of her behaviour towards Sonic; not only had their love never progressed like she had always hoped it would, but it was also no wonder that he chose someone else over her – She'd waited patiently but the amount of time she had wasted already was getting to her. How long would she have to waste before Sonic finally explained his feelings. The Blur-Blur had never confirmed or denied that he loved her... All he had ever done was run away or avoid the question. What use was that to her? Many sane people would have moved on by now but Amy was too in love and too positive to let her love for him just fade. It wouldn't. She couldn't put the flame out... well, she couldn't fight the fire by herself anyway.

And when she thought of how she used to treat him, her heart sank at the thought that it was her own doing that pushed Sonic away; maybe every single crack in her heart was her own fault; every single, little, miniature, tiny spider-web crack... One day her heart would just break and become almost unfixable: unfixable as in shattered into millions of miniscule pieces and thrown into the wind to be carried away like light feathers. Who'd take the time to collect them and stitch them back together? And who'd heal the scars? She had considered other options; but who wants to be unloving? Who wants to have a heart of stone? She wouldn't take that route. She wouldn't harden her heart just to avoid it from getting broken. She'd rather die than be stone cold.

'**I dunno, I had other plans. x' **she texted back before stuffing her phone in the pocket of her sweatpants while trying not to think about him. After zipping up her deep pink hoody and pulling on some gloves over her white ones, wrapping a scarf around her neck and grabbing a hat she exited the house quickly; hoping to keep her heart rate up to prevent the cold from getting to her.

* * *

She jogged up to the lake, the snow that was lying as thick as ever and that combined with the mist had made quite an obstacle when it came to exercising; it made it that bit harder. Crossing her fingers, she looked around for that familiar ebony and crimson hedgehog. A frustrated growl passed her lips; she was staring deep into the mist, finding nothing because of it. The frown she made caused her face to hurt, it was raw because of the surrounding temperatures.

As the goose bumps began to rise on her arms, she trekked through the snow back onto the main path but this time she was heading deeper into the forest instead of going home. More disappointment had been added to her already sour mood. It was then that her phone vibrated against her thigh. Pulling it out, she already knew who the text would be from, her eyes had settled on her phone as she walked along the path; most definitely not watching where she was walking, there was no point anyway - the mist prevented her from seeing the next turn in the path, she'd follow it as it came.

'**Aw common? There will be turkey! xx**' Sonic had replied. She could only imagine what type of mood he was in; certain that he had his usual cocky and upbeat demeanour while Amy had lost all of her positive attitude at his expense. He'd probably be sitting with Tails somewhere or if not, he'd be at _hers_. Amy shivered at the thought. She hated _her _far more than she hated Sonic at this moment in time.

With a scowl she texted '**There's always turkey, idiot.**' Without processing the text, she sent it - only realising afterwards what she had actually said to him. She'd never insulted Sonic while actually meaning it; but this time, Amy knew she had. Sure, she had threatened him more than a couple of times in the past... But even Sonic had known back then that Amy wouldn't harm a single quill on his big spiky head. The same couldn't be said for now.

As if Sonic had been sitting glued to his phone, she received a call from him straight away, a reaction to her out of character text. Panicking, she hit the reject button with a pounding heart, is this what her anger was causing her to do? If so she didn't care anymore. She wasn't ready to talk to him and she certainly wasn't ready to forgive him. She was going to let her anger influence her. She wasn't the young innocent girl she used to be, far from it and Sonic had to realise that.

She rejected another call while ducking under a bare branch, the top of her head brushing against it. Puffing distastefully when some cold snow found its way down the back of her hoody; Amy shook most of it out before it melted, her phone vibrated another time: another text, he certainly was persistent. With a sigh, she opened it and began to read it.

'**Okay Amy, I would prefer to tell u this face to face or the next best thing, over the phone but I can't. If u think that **_**she**_** will be coming, I can tell u that she's not. I wouldn't even dare ask u this if she was. It was only an autumn romance. It finished over a month -**'

Amy let out a small screech and dropped her phone as she walked into someone and tumbled over; her bottom was cushioned by the snow but at the same time she cursed at the pinching coldness as some of the wet substance came into contact with her bare skin. She accepted that this was bound to happen sooner or later. "Watch where you're going!" she snapped nevertheless, ironically speaking - she was the one in the wrong.

"Amy Rose?" he said. Amy's eyes shot up at the sound of that familiar monotone and husky voice. She'd lucked out. Her eyes lit up as her heavy mood was lifted from her shoulders, strangely, this emotion that she felt faintly, it was a weird and unsettling presence and Amy simply couldn't describe.

"Shadow..." she whispered fondly, right then she realised there was something up with her - Why would she care about seeing Shadow? He wasn't exactly the friendly or charismatic type... Yet again she was face to face with a wild animal of sorts, unpredictable, majestic, intriguing and she genuinely wanted to find out more about him.

"Get up." He said towering over her, it was actually rather frightening. She rose to her feet and brushed the snow shavings of herself before scooping up her phone, the electronic device thankfully undamaged by the solidified liquid it had landed in.

"What a coincidence running into you here..." she retorted to his rude demand as she studied the forest around her, something she had not been doing due to the distraction of her phone. The forest was also beautiful just like the lake, even more so in the morning. It contained a mixture of coniferous and deciduous trees, each tree had adapted to the winter conditions or they had simply just adopted the winter style. The snow along the ground was pure and untouched; it looked almost fluffy due to the absence of trampling. The bare branches of the sleeping deciduous trees reached out through the mist to show their presence, the coniferous ones were iced in white flakes and frost, only the slightest slick of green was able to catch her eye. Her observing and her thinking was interrupted by Shadow's deep and soft but rough voice.

"It is you who should be watching where you are going." He said disagreeing, his shoulder brushing hers as he passed her to leave, his black fur tickling the spot on her arm on which it had came into contact and reminding her of the goosebumps that were still present.

"Wait." Amy spoke suddenly. He froze his actions and looked over his shoulder, his angled eyes fixing on her cold and thin frame. "Do you want me to accompany you? I mean I have to head home that way anyway... um..." while she awaited his response she assumed she was going crazy, this was Shadow the Hedgehog; a being with a soft-spoken voice even when he's in the most heated and dangerous of battles, if he had plans – he'd carry them out without any hesitation or any regrets, he constantly belittles others and is more dangerous than any single robot Dr. Robotnik could ever create in his entire lifetime... All because he was Shadow, his mindset caused him to be like this, he simply didn't know any other way of acting or treating others.

"No." He said bluntly to make it final before he began walking away from her again. A pout formed on her face and she took off after him. A single word was not going to change her plans.

"Well, I'm coming anyway!" she told him as she caught up with his pace; he wasn't skating or running so it was easy enough for her to do.

He shot her a confused and angry glance; she briefly caught a glimpse into his eyes and therefore could tell how annoying he found her. "What do you want from me?" he asked as they continued on, Amy found that the whole situation made her feel awkward and rather strange and she had noticed she kept comparing him to Sonic; right now, if Shadow were Sonic... the blue-blur would have sped away to leave her in his speed induced wind. This thought was interesting for her.

After a brief period of thinking she said "Nothing." The truth was, she didn't know why she was so fascinated by him. She watched his body language and studied his structure; Shadow's body structure was much like Sonic's. A memory from Prison Island popped into her mind at the thought. Thinking back, she remembered how disgusted she was to find out that Shadow was not Sonic, but presently she thought of the situation differently. Instead, she remembered how solid and slim his build felt within her arms. Without even thinking she admitted "You fascinate me." While her brain screamed at her not to say such a thing, immediately she slapped her hands over her muzzle. What a foolish thing to say to him.

Slowing down, he eventually stopped in his tracks. "Hmmm." He hummed in thought as he looked at her, did she want something off him like the enemy usually did? He recognized these traits in Rouge whenever she wanted him to help her with something... Although the white bat wasn't exactly the enemy, she was more of a woman who does as she pleases to suit her own needs and desires. The bat's technique Shadow had identified was apparent flattery, it had never worked on him. But still; was this girl Amy Rose trying to manipulate him in a way? She didn't look at all guile; she didn't seem like the type. He had never witnessed her do such a thing unless it was for the blue-hedgehog. All the odds conflicted in his brain yet he still came to a conclusion that she was up to something.

Amy stopped in time with the ebony hedgehog and began to awkwardly rub her arms. What had she did wrong? Talking to Shadow was like trying to walk over glass with numb feet and a blind fold on; you could never be sure if you've cut yourself; in other terms, she was not sure if she had offended, annoyed, irritated or angered him or not... and the list goes on! "I'm sorry if that sounded strange." She laughed awkwardly, unsure as to why he reacted to the three words like he did, Sonic would probably have said something like 'Yeah, I usually have that effect on people.' She cursed at her thoughts. Forget Sonic – she repeated over and over again in her head.

"It did." He agreed before they began to cover distance again, she was quick to follow suit. Amy eyed him in complete puzzlement. There had to be more to Shadow than what meets the eye. She got a shock when he accused "You want something of me, don't you... what is it? I cannot be manipulated if that is the case." His voice was a low growl, a sort of threat.

Now she understood his reaction. "What? No!" she said offended while grabbing his arm to stop him from walking on; he snatched it free with little effort. He turned to look at her with his eyes flickering furiously at her sudden behaviour; the intensity of the red in them had increased, every muscle under his black fur had tensed. He stared into her alert emerald eyes, her determined ones, now she understood Shadow a little bit better; he was untrusting, he found it hard to distinguish between the good and the bad and therefore did not trust anyone or side with anyone; that was her assumption anyway. "So I'm a threat now am I?" she asked rhetorically. "This is why I'm fascinated by you, Shadow." she pointed out, she'd tell him straight: "The way you act, the way you treat others. No one knows much about you. Don't you get it Shadow? People are curious about you. It's like you're not even from this planet."

"I still don't understand." Shadow muttered to himself as he ran his eyes over Amy continuously; he hadn't really listened to her words clearly. Why was she being so tolerant of him, so nice to him? Is this Amy Rose? The pink hedgehog he met on the ARK all those years ago? She seemed different, less energetic, more mature, more settled and when he also thought about it; she didn't seem like she could even manipulate him in the slightest. He noticed her for the first time; she was a small creature, a meek and mild one. She didn't seem to have the skills to be cunning or sly nor the personality traits.

Not knowing who this girl was anymore, he asked "What has happened to you?" and Amy's mouth fell agape. Was Shadow actually asking a question that involved her well-being? She doubted it. Was this conversation he was creating? Could he even do that? Was that even possible?

She hesitated. "What... terms do you mean that in?" she questioned while fiddling with her clothing nervously.

"You're not the same." He stated straight and simple the obvious, Shadow filtered everything he said, he evaluated things just before he said them. "Has anything happened to change you?" he repeated only rearranging the words a little bit, his voice un-emotive.

"Shadow, I don't know why you'd be asking me this." Amy responded. The male hedgehog didn't sound concerned, he didn't seem like he cared in the slightest and Amy would refuse to open up to someone who didn't care. When she really thought about it, Shadow would be the last person she'd open up to. He would barely even tolerate her rambling.

"Fine. Do not answer me." He said as he turned his back on her while looking out ahead of himself, his quills swayed with the sudden motion of his body. "Now leave me be. I have business to attend to..." his deep voice trailed off as he spotted a creature winding around the trees slowly, he watched the sleek movements it made as it approached them; it skilfully cleared the snow silently and easily as if it had did it many times before, it's paws rising and falling as it trotted through the snow lightly on the toes of its four paws; a great hunting animal he supposed.

Shadow's change in behaviour did not go unnoticed by Amy, the silence of his voice called for her to speak up. "... Shadow?" She questioned as she followed his eyes into the surrounding hibernating woodland. Seeing what he had spotted, she was awed at the sight of the animal before them. It left a trail of prints as it came closer, it's hungry autumn-green eyes focused on Shadow. "Is it a winter wolf?" Amy asked but shushed when Shadow held a hand up to silence her, she obeyed and he nodded in response to her question. Seeing it bare it's teeth, she then remembered that wolves came in pacts, and that they sometimes hunted for people if they were hungry enough. Thinking she was doing the right thing, she pulled out her piko-piko hammer to defend Shadow and her if need be. "It's hunting us Shadow!" she warned him while believing herself to be some sort of a help.

Shadow grunted at her words; as if he couldn't tell if it were or not. No, this animal wasn't hunting - he knew that... But Amy didn't. His head snapped around expecting the predicable; the piko-piko hammer was most definitely out. Eyeing it with hate he uttered "Put it away." Amy shook her head sternly and continued to hold the hammer. "Put it away!" he teethed angrily.

"What will I do if it attacks me?" Amy asked knowing that Shadow would be fine, he could defend himself without weapons; he was incredibly strong. The wolf – that was now at a closer distance – ears twitched and turned at their voices. It's thick, furred and white tail swaying as it listened, it's eyes were alert and it's vision sharp.

"She won't." Shadow assured her. "Now put it away." His eyes narrowed into skeptical slits as he watched Amy struggle to obey him. Amy, giving into his pressurising stare, eventually made the hammer disappear and he nodded appreciably at her. She turned to see the wolf. 'She' Shadow had called her; he must know something about the animal.

The strangest thing about Mobius was the fact that there were humans, Mobians and animals all on the same planet, yet the humans always believed themselves to be the far more superior ones; Amy didn't exactly understand why they thought that. According to scientific research, Mobians first began as a mutation due to a natural disaster that occurred millions of centuries ago, that was all the scientists could gather so far. They believed Mobians were once wild animals that roamed the planet freely. It was a theory along with the one that the humans developed from apes. Amy didn't really care... It was just a thought.

The wolf was now around five meters away from them. Up close, it looked magnificent and majestic but even so, intimidating. Amy wasn't used to seeing wild animals, she was more used to seeing plenty of man-made robots. The wolf's back fur was thick, shining and dark grey but it's undercoat was a pure bright white and seemed fluffy and soft - it's coat ranged over a spectrum of deep greys to whites and everything in between. The patterns on it's long, slim face helped enhance it's angled eyes and pointed ears and the teeth in it's half open mouth looked far from harmless. Amy was finding it hard to stand in the exact same spot, it was a challenge trying not to back away; she had a soft spot for animals such as dogs or cats or hamsters but she certainly didn't have one for wolves. Every so often, the hound would look her way as if it were contemplating whether to be wary of her or not. When it finally reached the crimson and ebony hedgehog it nudged at the palm of his big hand with it's snout; seemingly encouraging the hedgehog to stroke it and Amy was surprised when Shadow actually did; he welcomed a softer look onto his face that Amy had never seen before; it made him look surprisingly more attractive. He wasn't smiling from the eyes down, but in his eyes; she was sure they were smiling ever so slightly - even just a little bit. She watched as the wolf happily sat down in the snow beside Shadow, the dark hedgehog hunching down beside it so he was able to continue pampering it. Shadow scratched behind it's ears and then went on to stroke it's thick and furry neck. The wolf then lay down and sprawled itself out while Shadow tickled its belly. Amy's lips had curled into a small smile, this was a side to Shadow she was sure no one had ever saw before, it was really cute, yes unbelievable to see such a thing happen, but cute. She just wished he could act this gentle with people and not just animals.

"So I'm guessing you know her then?" Amy said as she approached the two, her cheeks flushing a healthy pink as she knelt beside Shadow; this made him seen more normal and a lot less... Shadow - the Shadow she was used to anyway. She knew she was growing fonder of Shadow; her perception of him was changing. Here she was sitting here with Shadow the Hedgehog, not on a mission; and he wasn't brooding which was a huge change. It was heart-warming. "Has she got a name?" she asked.

Shadow gave the wolf two last pats and turned to look into Amy's eyes; her cheeks reddening some more as she tried not to crack under his piercing stare. "Yes." He said in answer to her first question. "She comes by the lake quite lot; she seems to follow me around the forest whenever I'm here."

"She's following your scent..." Amy suggested before letting a light laugh escape from between her bluing lips. "I used to do that with Sonic in the past... It worked quite well." she joked.

"You... did?" Shadow mumbled, looking at her with a concerned look in his crimson eyes. Realising that he didn't understand what a joke was; Amy rolled her eyes with an amused smirk on her face and shook her head.

"Don't look at me like I need help, I was joking." She said filling him in, when really – she wasn't actually joking, she even found it disturbing that she used to act in such a way. She thanked god that she was past that horrible fangirling stage of her life.

"Oh." was all he said before turning to look down at the wolf, his crimson eyes once again more relaxed and soft.

"Does she have a name then?"

"Wild animals do not have names; they simply are unable to do such a thing."

"Why don't we name her then? What type of wolf is she? A grey wolf?" Amy was certainly firing out the questions more as she found that the hedgehog had become increasingly more talkative.

"Again with the questions..." Shadow commented. The wolf realised that Shadow had stopped patting her, she rose onto her four legs and launched herself at him – the black and red hedgehog falling into the snow with a grump – before she began licking his face.

Amy giggled as Shadow lay there; his jet black fur sprinkled in sparkling whites flakes. "Grey..." she said absentmindedly as she stared at the wolf. "Let's call her Grey. It only seems logical. Besides, she suits it!" Amy declared cheerfully.

"Yeah, whatever." Shadow grumbled as he pushed himself to sit upright. Standing up straight, he brushed himself of before he looked at Grey and pointed into the woods. "Now, go-"

"Don't forget to say Grey." Amy added with a girly grin, this was fun.

Shadow, letting out an irritated sigh, ignored the pink hedgehog. "Now go. You'll find me next time." he told the wolf. Grey howled and gave Shadow one last look before turning and running into the depths of the woods to hunt for her breakfast. Amy turned to him once they watched the wolf return into mist from which the beautiful creature had emerged; his eyes were heavily focused on her, a sort of look that told her to leave too. Taking the hint she said "I should probably run on..."

"Yes, you should." Shadow advised as he pulled the red Chaos Emerald out from in between his back quills. "Because of you - pink hedgehog - I am late."

"I have a name!" Amy said offended at the use of the phrase 'pink hedgehog'.

"Bye _Amy_." he restated, putting emphasis on her name.

And with the uttered words "Chaos control." and the flash of an extraordinary bright light, he was gone as quick as he had appeared.

Staring at the space where the red and black hedgehog had been standing previously, she blinked once or twice. "What a stubborn and arrogant hedgehog." Amy commented in a huff as she came out of her mindless trance before she began plodding through the snow back towards the lake. Even though she thought she felt annoyed at the crimson and ebony hedgehog, her face displayed otherwise; she hadn't smiled this much in months. She even continued reading the text that Sonic had sent her with a smile on her face. What a start to the day.

'**Okay Amy, I would prefer to tell u this face to face or the next best thing, over the phone but I can't. If you think that **_**she**_** will be coming, I can tell u that she's not. I wouldn't even dare ask u if she was. It was only an autumn romance. It finished over a month ago. To tell u the truth, it wasn't that great either because I lost a good friend over it. I realised I cared more about u than I cared about her. Also Amy, we all really miss u! So please forgive me? I'm begging u over text, I know that's sad but how else am I meant to apologize to u if u keep avoiding me? All I'm asking is for u to give me one chance to make it up to u ... What do ya say Ames? xx**'

At this minute in time, Amy decided she was going to deal with the text later. All she wanted to do was return home to her cosy cottage, light a crackling fire, heat up her toes, boil herself a pot of tea and maybe give Cream a call. Sonic could wait until she finally felt like replying. She'd wasted all these years waiting for him to declare his love, the least he could do now was wait for a text.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or anything related to it, rightfully belongs to SEGA.**


	3. Broken

**Thank you for all your reviews so far. *hugs* **

**Most of this Ch was written to ****Evanescence. I'm sorry if this seems rushed and sloppy, Christmas shopping is great but it's really time consuming. I aim to get this story back to the feel of the first Chapter very soon, I'll have time for perfection once I get my holidays very soon.**

_**Iced Over**_

**Chapter 3 – Broken**

Not once had she found him by the lake or in the surrounding forest since then and so she went on with her life like normal. The rose-pink hedgehog next met Shadow in the face of grave danger; when her life could have been minutes away from ending. She had stood with the famous fox known most for his incredible scientific and intellectual abilities, her friend, Tails.

However, she had spotted the crimson and ebony hedgehog briefly during the period of his absence; he had been situated on top of a building that over looked the city. On that night his distinct and darker silhouette was positioned against the dull and swirling clouds; the clouds were the makings of the blizzard that had been on its way. The following day, almost the whole country was buried in at least one foot of snow; a memory forgotten in the present moment, her mind was far away from Shadow right now.

Right at this instant, only a couple of days before Christmas, a tear rolled down her bruised cheek; it was no tear of sadness, it was a tear that had escaped the eye as they continued to sting and water from the gases that she had previously run from.

Thinking she could not save him, Tails had been forced behind her, the poor fox begging for her to step aside as she guarded the latter from the surrounding danger; he already witnessed some of the blows she'd took for him and it was killing him inside, he hated seeing her get hurt. What made him feel even worse was the fact that she had been injured because of him, for him, protecting him. Tails was more than modest, more than fair, his selflessness exceeded many limits and so he couldn't accept anybody's sacrifices that were made for him, instead he preferred to be the one making the sacrifices. Amy refused to budge as the fox tried to push her aside, he couldn't take seeing such an amazing friend get hurt any longer and he felt like he was the one owing her protection. "No Amy!" the little fox exclaimed as he tried to push her out of his way, but to no avail. "You don't have to do this!" He knew that Amy was a strong girl; Tails may have been strong combined with his creations, machinery and vehicles, but without them he knew he was only an average fighter... but being 'average' was not going to save their life's today, he was no Sonic or Knuckles, deep down, he knew Amy had a better chance at keeping them alive than he did.

With metallic clangs of advanced machinery, each carefully constructed robot directed their guns directly at them. Amy and Tails were yet again in another bare, cold, echoing and lifeless room, the walls made of steel and metal, the floor also made of the exact same materials, everything about the base felt suffocating, especially eerie. These robots, they were about the height of four humans aligned vertically, were as wide as three humans and looked like an oversized ant that stood on it back most farthest legs, although a lot more ugly and metal. To Tails eyes, they seemed to be made of a combination of metals, yet one type of metal was unknown to Tails, he knew that this metal was stronger than Titanium if the X-Tornado could not even scratch it, somehow Eggman had managed to weave this extremely strong metal into the robots outer body armour to strengthen it. What had attracted Sonic, Knuckles, Tails and Amy here in the first place was the detection of radioactive substances; they had been informed by G.U.N as well that they had also picked up on the out of the ordinary readings. Tails was absolutely positive that the guns built into these robots were related to the radioactivity readings. This worried him greatly. Unsurprised, Sonic and his gang knew that Eggman would have probably schemed to ruin Christmas like he had attempted in past years and so, they had set out to foil his evil plans once again.

As targets began to lock on the two, within the next few seconds Amy had ceased Tails by the wrist and bolted towards the nearest exit, a nuclear shot just missing their feet by mere inches. When the metal door began to lower to a close as they were approaching it, the two of them worked their legs like they had never down before. Eggman seemed to have been one step ahead of them this time and they couldn't understand how they'd got in such a situation. The funniest thing was that Sonic hadn't even shown up yet to help them, they had suspicions that he was trying to overcome an obstacle in another part of the base, but the difference was that Sonic would make it out unharmed; Amy and Tails had already been shaken; at the moment, the two were really struggling. The duo were thinking the exact same thing: Where the heck was Sonic? And if he didn't come, which they strongly doubted, was that they'd have to fight for their lives themselves, Amy wasn't quite sure how long she'd be able to hold up either.

"Slide under it!" Amy shouted in reference to the narrowing space between the floor and the metal door as she twisted her body and threw herself onto her right hip. Tails did the exact same and both of them skidded over the floor with no grace whatsoever, the fox just about making it out.

It had happened so quickly. Without knowing what had happened to her, Amy cried out in pain as the heavy metal door crushed left foot; the sudden and agonizing pain numbing her leg almost instantly. Disorientated, she heard Tails shouting between grunts of what sounded like discomforted. With her clouded eyesight, she identified the tip of one of his tails trapped under the door as well, the only difference being he was on the other side.

With gasping, restricted and ragged breathing, the pink hedgehog tried to pull her foot from under the door, but only screamed as a searing shock of pain broke through the numbness and shot up her leg, her breakfast threatening to regurgitate at the sound of her own crushing bones. Trembling while containing agonized cries, she squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth to try and deal with it but it wasn't working; this was a type of pain she had never felt before, she never ever had wished to experience such a feeling. It was horrifying. Unbearable. Hell. Her heart rate had gone sky high and she began to respire hugely, what the hell would she do now?

"Amy!" came Tails muffled call of terror from the other side of the door.

Everything had gone terribly wrong. They were injured as well as her now being trapped. The X-Tornado had been blown to bits. Her hammer had been incinerated by nuclear infused weapons. Sonic and Knuckles were in another part of the base that had went into emergency lockdown and these robots seemed to be hell-bent on assassinating them. Amy thought that Sonic and Knuckles must have been in the same sort of situation, otherwise the hedgehog would've been here to prevent this.

Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, she remembered that the robots where on her side of the door. Beginning to panic, she decided to bear the pain as she pulled her leg with every bit of bravery and strength she could muster. Letting out a weak and pathetic whimper when that failed, she was left with a strong wave of nausea passing over her, her head began to spin as she fought for consciousness, things flashed before her eyes in small doses. She could hear the grinding of technology getting closer, yet everything sounded so distant. Was this it? She would be satisfied to leave the world knowing that at least Tails was safe for the mean time and that she'd went down fighting, protecting another. She was happy with that.

"Amy! Are you okay!" Tails yelled as his voice penetrated her echoing and confused mind, he was forcing his tiny lungs to shout louder than they ever had done before.

"Me? I'm... I'm..." she fell silent, the fox's heart rate racing as he awaited her response, his need of knowing was severed in the next couple of seconds; Tails let out a devastated gasp as he heard and felt a huge explosion from behind the door. He frantically leapt to his feet and began pulling his tail with an unusual amount of strength, he bit his tongue to help him get though the agony while he tugged and pulled at his tail as if he were playing a violent game of tug of war. Watching as he ripped his own tail from under the door, he saw that it was now furless and torn. Out of weakness he fell to his knees, his thoughts entirely focused in Amy's well being as he ignored the severe burning feeling that now tingled intensely in the tip of his tail.

Picking up his head, he revealed wide, unbelieving eyes as he yelled "Amy!" Over and over again, hoping and praying to get a response from her. She couldn't be dead. Everything would turn out okay in the end, wouldn't it? It had to. It always did.

However, just as he did so he heard a voice.

"Chaos Spear!" and a hole was blasted in the hard, thick metal door; one wide enough for a few Mobians to clamber through. Tails ducked and took shelter as the bits of metal flew over his head and crashed into the things around him. Once the dust and smoke had cleared, unharmed by the flying debris, he reluctantly looked up only to find a familiar shady figure gradually forming through the smoke, the silhouette almost like Sonic's, only different.

"Shadow!" he cried with many emotions mixed in one word; sadness, concern, helplessness, hope, confusion, urgency, relief, many others. The hedgehog eyed him, the crimson orbs of his eyes investigating the situation intently. He stood firmly, his muscles still tense from the fighting.

"Yes. You are Tails. I remember you." He stated as he turned to look back through the hole at Amy, the pink hedgehog he was now more familiar with courtesy of their previous meetings. She was out cold on the floor; her face sickly pale with a few bruises on her delicate muzzle while moisture coated her whole face, Shadow also saw the odd spec of blood that had seeped into her pink fur that had surrounded a wound. He confirmed with himself that the wounds were minor as they could not be seen; maybe a couple of deep scratches or possibly a few shallow cuts.

"Amy..." Tails muttered as he finally saw the terrible state she was in. "Amy!" he cried and with quite a force, Shadow had been shoved aside as Tails dived through the door to his friend's side. "Shadow, you've got to help me help her! Please!" he said as his now desperate and teary eyes met Shadow's cold and frightening orbs. The fox failed to notice the smashed robot parts lying all around him, Shadow had arrived just at the right time, saving Amy unintentionally.

"She is still alive but is unable to walk." He informed the kitsune. He watched as the young kitsune's aqua eyes fell upon the rose-pink hedgehog's foot. It was completely hidden from sight. There was no doubt that it was completely crushed, he was almost sure that she'd never be able to walk again.

"Oh my god." was all Tails could say for a moment as he took in the broken sight of her. It was horrible. He tried to think of things to do. "Shadow, she's in pure agony. We need to get it from under there as quick as possible!"

"Yes. I know that."

"What do we do..." Tails said lowly in deep thought as he scanned the room while thinking hard. There was no type of control panel whatsoever so he couldn't override the emergency lockdown system and retract the doors. After considering asking Shadow to blow her foot free, he scrapped that idea; it was far too risky, the hedgehog would probably injure her even more.

Interjecting his thinking was the sound of a low volume bleeping, his eyes fixed focus on Shadows arm as the hedgehog moved it up close to his lips revealing a small red light flashing on a communication wrist watch. "Yes?" Shadow asked as the bleeping stopped, his voice airy and uninterested.

"You'll never guess who I ran into?" sounded a clear and familiar voice that Tails recognised as the bat that worked with Shadow; she went by the name of Rouge. "Lil' ol' hot-head here and his blue friend ran into some trouble down at this end of the base."

There was no doubting who she was talking about; no one could express how happy Tails was feeling knowing that the others were still alive and kicking, but Amy, oh Amy, Tails prayed she'd be okay. He approached her motionless body and knelt down by her side before inspecting it, she was beaten and bruised, right now, Tails was more angry at himself than he was at Eggman, how could he have let this happen to her? Clenching a fist, the fox, without gloves, may have drawn blood from his own hands.

"Sonic and Knuckles. Yes." Shadow replied as he recalled the two. He usually saw the blue, red and yellow Mobians together, they seemed inseparable. This was something Shadow couldn't quite understand, he didn't understand the concept of friendship very much; all he knew was that you had to enjoy the others company – he enjoyed no one's company. Unintentionally, his eyes drifted to the pink hedgehog again, actually, when he thought about it, he didn't mind her company that much when he briefly remembered the times they had met on the ARK, at the lake and in the forest. Maybe she was an exception. This confused him greatly and he suddenly felt the urge to relieve the pain she was in. He clenched his teeth as he stared at her but with a stubborn state of mind, he forced himself to take action after consulting the girl's friends and so he replied to his colleague. "I located heat signals within the upper part of the base expecting to find Eggman and found the fox and the pink hedgehog instead."

Shadow, for unknown reasons, couldn't tear his eyes away from Amy. She lay like... Maria had done... Alone, injured, helpless... This angered him. It caused his long numb heart to ache. He wasn't even unaware he had a beating heart. This was a feeling he hadn't felt since that day he now barely remembered, but the feeling was still as strong as ever whenever he thought of Maria.

Maria was the only person who understood him, she was his only friend and they took her away. No matter how the feelings caused by the incident on the ARK continued to distort and change his opinion on the United Federation and G.U.N, Shadow knew that he couldn't change what had happened and so he got on with his life, no matter how empty and worthless it may be. He didn't know everything about himself, he still had the problems with amnesia, he didn't know if he was a robot or not, he couldn't die, he didn't have anything but himself, he didn't have to live for anybody, it was Maria who had sacrificed her priceless and precious life for a Mobian that, to outsiders and strangers , seemed emotionless and dead; yet nothing bothered him now, his purpose was now and forever dedicated to Maria's dying wish; He would watch over the planet and keep it safe. Allow people to live.

And oddly, when he looked at Amy, he saw the delicate and fragile creature Maria was, even if he hated the thought of the two being alike. Maybe that was why he didn't mind the girl; because, in a way, his mind seemed to think she resembled Maria in some miniscule ways.

Deeply absorbed in his thoughts, Shadow noticeably jerked when he heard Rouge reply. "Amy and Tails, I see. Yeah, well, now these guys are tagging along with me-"

"Bring the red one here." Shadow demanded unexpectedly as he cut her off rudely.

"How? I can't locate you and-"

"Sonic, Knuckles! Amy's injured! We can't get her free!" Tails yelled down into the device as he now stood by Shadow. "Her foot's trapped under one of the huge security doors! It's completely crushed! I can't retract the doors and Shadow can't use Chaos energy."

There was a quite a bit of commotion and rustling on the other end as Sonic now replied. "What?" his voice strained and panicked. "What!" he repeated. "Is she okay?" his voice was almost snappy and demanding, Tails and the others apart from Shadow could understand why Sonic was so restless.

"Of course not." Shadow replied as if the blue hedgehog were thick. Shadow had nothing against Sonic but for some reason, the blue hedgehog was very irritating in his opinion and he didn't like being around him.

"How do we get to you?" Sonic asked impatiently, ignoring Shadow's arrogant reply, Sonic found it strange how Shadow seemed willing to help, in fact, the blue hedgehog did not trust his darker counterpart and was apprehensive with the idea of him being in the same place as Amy, she needed someone trustworthy to protect her... Of course, there was Tails. But in a standoff between the two, the winner would be obvious, as much as Sonic despised that truth.

Then Shadow had an idea that didn't involve Sonic or his red friend coming here. Tails eyed him in suspiciousness as the ebony and crimson hedgehog cut the call short; his emotionless or unreadable eyes falling upon Amy once again. "Shadow what are you doing?" the kitsune asked hesitantly as he eyed him in sudden puzzlement. "We needed to speak to them, how else are we going to get Amy free? They need to get to her as soon as possible."

"You have forgotten. I can induce Chaos Control." He looked at Tails with irritation swirling in his eyes yet the kitsune still looked deeply confused. "It is a form of teleportation. Nothing can hold you in place once it is activated. Therefore, we do not need your annoying blue friend's assistance."

"You mean, you're going to Chaos Control her from under the door?" The fox's eyes lit up in realisation, this was a much quicker and simpler method of getting her free.

"Yes." With a press of a button, Shadow had now reconnected with Rouge. The bat was almost as angry as Sonic; the hedgehog was on the edge of his seat, knowing that Amy was somewhere with Shadow, injured, without him being there with her. He didn't want to be away from her any longer.

"What the hell? Why did you cut me off?" She, the bat, huffed through the device.

"Listen. You three meet the fox outside the base. I will take Amy to safety." he said with finalisation in his voice, no one would change his mind.

"Shadow! What? Fill us in here?" said Sonic with increasing irritation. Sonic was growing unbelievably annoyed at the Crimson hedgehog, Shadow proceeded to do what he wanted despite the thoughts and worries of the people it concerned, his darker counterpart became more of a barrier between Sonic and Amy, he was causing problems, this is what it felt like for Sonic, not being able to see someone you loved because something stood in the way. Shadow was the worst person to relay information... He seemed so uninformative, so unclear and so inconsiderate. Snapping, sonic shouted "Just tell us what you're doing already!" his voice raising, the unsettlement within him growing.

Just as Sonic said that, Shadow ended the call, not on purpose but because he had said all that he needed, there was no need to allow her suffering to go on any longer, no need to waste anymore time. He had a solution in his head and he would act immediately.

* * *

With Rouge and Knuckles, the bat commented "... and... he's gone again." Just before Sonic began to growl to himself; the blue-blur's uncharacteristic behaviour causing Knuckles to grow slightly worried about his friend.

"This might sound a tiny bit stupid..." Knuckles said as he winced at the thought of his own words. "But try to chill a little bit."

Sonic's eyes widened, one eye twitching as they did so, his breathing fast. "Knuckles... Amy... She's hurt... and Shadow has been left to deal with it... And we know nothing more apart from 'she's hurt', how do you expect _me_ to _chill_?"

"Now you know how I feel on every mission." Rouge's comment was unhelpful.

Knuckles sighed heavily, usually he was the one to be the syco-crazy-angry one in these sorts of situations, it wasn't that he didn't care about Amy, it was just, being honest, for some reason he believed Shadow to be a good guy. He was about to reveal his faith in Shadow when Rouge did it for him.

"Honestly honey, I'm not the sentimental type... and I don't really give a hoot about what happens to your friend... But if Shadow says he'll do something... he will. Trust me." she said as she eyed the twitching blue hedgehog, her baby blue eyes speaking the truth, she'd known Shadow long enough to say such a thing.

"We'll track them down soon." Was all Sonic said and he charged into the nearest door, ramming into it as he spun rapidly, sparks forming alone at his super speed.

* * *

Tail's mouth fell agape, realising how insensitive Shadow was being. "He's worried!" Tails said in reference to Sonic, the kitsune couldn't understand why Shadow was being so difficult. "Why did you do that?"

"I'll leave you to get out of here on your own if you don't shut up." so Tails stay quiet, Shadow bent down and took Amy's limp hand. "Come here." He ordered as Tails stepped into arms length of the hedgehog, afraid of getting too close, he could tell Shadow's patience was wearing thin.

Gripping the red Chaos Emerald from between his back quills, Shadow muttered "Chaos Control!".

* * *

Tails fell onto what seemed like thick and snowless grass with an 'Oomph.' The blinding light cleared and Revealed Shadow now to be holding Amy in his strong arms, her body loose and limp. "She's free!" the kitsune said relieved. "Chaos Control worked!" They stood in the edge of the forest that surrounded Eggman's huge base, the day had seemingly passed since they had arrived here with them being inside the whole time, the afternoon had turned to dusk, the nights got dark early and so it was the merge between day and night.

His happy and thankful mood died when Shadow turned away from him, "I'll take her to somewhere safe, you stay here." He hedgehog said in his deep, cold monotone voice before slowing travelling into the dark forest furthering himself from the young kitsune.

Tails began to become apprehensive himself, weather it was being left on his own or letting Shadow leave with Amy, he didn't know. "You can't take her." Tails said, his voice sounding a little shakier than he had expected.

"It's for the best." Shadow said without looking back. Before Tails could even say anything more, the hedgehog had sped off into the woods.

With a worried breath, Tails said to himself "What have I done..."

* * *

The never-ending black was broken by a concentrated white light. The nothingness dispersed in her mind as jumbled and mixed letters began to form words and sentences; thought had returned to her unconscious state. At first, her mind was overpowered with incomprehension and disorientation but as her eyes slowly opened and revealed a blinding brightness, she had slowly begun to come around. Although she was becoming conscious again, she still felt like she was dreaming. Trying to turn on her side, she let out a groan as a searing ache shot up her abdomen.

Shadow's ears twitched at her moaning, his head slowly turning to face her so he could watch her awaken. Her eyebrows were knitted. Her eyes only half open, her face was still drained of all colour.

Although Shadow didn't know for sure, he could predict she had been heavily drugged.

"Did... You... Urg... like my present Sonic... Urh..." she said mindlessly while the room spun as if everything were a dream. Shadow just observed quietly, thinking she had not regained consciousness enough to realise that he was there. "... I've lost Cream... help me find her..." she let out another groan as she turned to lie on her back. "... I hurt..." she whispered as a throb began to pound in her foot. "I... feel funny...Why do I hurt?"

"You'll remember soon." Shadow said, his face displaying only the usual, as he watched over her. For some reason, he didn't want to leave her unprotected, he felt like she was vulnerable if she was left alone, even if there was no impending danger. He would protect her until the blue hedgehog showed up, that was all he hoped to do; it was a diminutive part in relation to the promise he had made to Maria, still; Shadow knew Maria would have wanted this.

At the moment, when Shadow looked at the girl, his heart was lost, unable to understand why he was doing this, he felt like there was more to his actions than the influence of Maria's dying wish, yes, it played a small part, but that wasn't everything to do with his unusual actions. Something inside of him had begun to act that was beyond his understanding, something more complex than he could comprehend... And he asked himself; why had he saved Amy?

* * *

**Thank you for reading.**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or anything related to it, rightfully belongs to SEGA.**_


	4. Full of Surprises

**Can I beg for forgiveness? I'm sorry this is so late, I have exams at the minute and I spent a lot of time over the hols revising. Torture! Also, I know it's late but happy new year. The good news is that I'm inspired again. **

**And so I present to you the very overdue next chapter, it's a bit longer than usual. I didn't write this to any particular music, it's a combination of stuff. **

_**Iced Over**_

**Chapter 4 – Full of Surprises****  
**

The only sound generated within the lowly lit and silent room was the sound of soft snoring; it was a civilized and girly snore and considering the fact that there was only two occupants within the room, the snoring belonged to Amy. The noise of hustle and bustle was faint as patients, doctors, nurses, soldiers, agents and officers made their way up and down the corridor outside the room, only the slightest bit of noise filtered under the closed door, a metallic plate on the door read 'G.U.N Medical Facility - Room 69'.

Even though one was asleep, the other occupant was too. Shadow's weary head had slowly lolled to the side as time went on; it wasn't often that he fell asleep outside of his suspension capsule, in fact, the hedgehog didn't need much sleep and so you would rarely find him inside his capsule either, the capsule had been obtained from Doctor Eggman's base.

Asleep; the male hedgehog looked peaceful and content. Awake; he looked nothing but the opposite.

The hushed and placid silence was broken as Amy awoke suddenly, her awakening pressured by a dream she had been having, it wasn't a nightmare; it wasn't scary, but it was weird and it was on the verge of becoming one. With a light head, she allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Groaning, she positioned her elbows into the soft, white pillow and pushed herself upright just as a newly introduced headache snagged her full attention. "Ow." She mumbled as she placed an un-gloved hand against her sore head before another pain surpassed that; her foot. "Ah." She moaned loudly as her eyes fell upon the cast that was snugly fitted around her foot. "What the... ?" At the sight of the plaster, her mind began to run through the previous events, she found that she was also wearing a white dressing gown. Slowly remembering, she spoke to nobody, "I'm... not dead?" her strained voice echoing back and forth while bouncing of the walls.

In the farthest corner of the room, the male was disturbed from his light sleeping as her voice reached his ears. Shadow's eyes opened in a snap and he stared over at her; Amy had been sleeping for thirteen hours straight and during that period she'd awoken three times, only to speak a load of gibberish and drift back into a deep sleep again. Now it seemed she was fully awake without the effect of the medication she'd been given as pain relief. Grunting, the crimson and ebony hedgehog shuffled out of his slouching position.

At the sound of his grunt, her head snapped to the side. "Who's there?" she questioned as she searched the dim room frantically, his figure then catching her eye, a shadow lingering over the corner he was seated in. To her, the shape of the body looked like Sonic and so she assumed that was who it was, that was who she had expected him to be. "Sonic?" she questioned on point. After all, wasn't it always Sonic who saved her in the end?

Clearing his throat, the male corrected her flatly with "Shadow."

Amy blinked in astonishment and squinted her eyes as she lent over the edge of the bed to try and get a closer look, "Shadow?"

"Yes."

"Really?" she asked in disbelief. She knew it was the dark hedgehog, his voice was enough to prove it, but it still seemed... unbelievable. Why was he here? This was strange and it was _really_ unexpected. Was it not Sonic who had saved her, her hero? If this was Shadow then didn't that mean that he saved her? No way.

"Yes." He rose to his feet and hesitantly decided to walk over to stand a few meters away from her bed to prove a point.

She ran her eyes up and down his body, her heart beginning to flutter at the sight of him but she thought it was just nerves from being in a room with someone different for a change. He couldn't be here; this was all just a dream, Shadow wasn't the type to save her, he'd never bother or waste his own time, and so with that thought in mind, she came to one of the stupidest conclusions: "Why must you always show up in my dreams?" she moaned as she threw her head back into her pillow, her pink hair-like quills fanning out all over it. It wasn't the first time he'd shown up, actually; the weird dream she'd just had involved him. "It's weird though, waking from a dream in a dream... I like my brain, it's unique."

The dark hedgehog was not exactly amused. "You think you're dreaming?" he folded his arms across his hairy chest, studying her. Maybe he was wrong; maybe the full effect of the morphine hadn't worn off yet.

"Why else would you be here..." she said with a single laugh; an almost ignorant sounding one. "Seriously, I come up with the most-crazy scenarios." Expecting a smart comment as a retort, she rolled her head in her pillow to face him, only to find an unhappy and un-entertained face staring down at her. "And you act like Shadow too, all 'I am the ultimate' and grumpy and stuff. So characteristic!" she said in a delighted tone, not even realising the insults she was firing at the artificial life-form.

His face furthered into a deeper frown, an angry one. "I can assure you that you are _not_ dreaming." he spoke, his voice rough and disgusted. Turning his back on her, readying himself to leave, he said, "I can see I am clearly wasting my time here; I did not plan on saving you to only to receive smart comments in return. I thought I was performing an act of good will..."

As he took one step towards the door, Amy's teasing voice stopped him. "Ooh, pinch me." She chimed.

With a low growl and a tilt of his head, he asked "What?" but he did not turn to face her, he had every intention of leaving her behind to find out that she would never be able to walk again on her own. But this girl never failed to surprise him, from some helpless being beforehand, she had morphed into an annoying and arrogant person who seemed to have no idea who she was irritating.

"Seriously, prove to me that I'm not dreaming?" she said with a smirk. "Go on, pinch me."

He slowly turned to face her and following a heavy sigh he responded with "No."

"The Shadow in my dreams would've pinched me..." she said with a laugh. The crimson hedgehog just raised an eye ridge and tightened his jaw. It then dawned on her. "Oh, shit..." she muttered.

Shadow closed his eyes and lowered his head in half a nod of sorts. "I thought your injury would have been a clear indicator of your conscious state."

Ignoring his logic and sense, Amy pinched herself, and it hurt. "I'm not dreaming..." she said in slight shock and surprise and turned to look at the other hedgehog.

Shadow only made a single 'Hmph' sound in response and proceeded to stand there in silence, his eyes still closed and his head lowered, his arms folded across his torso as his back was positioned in the typical Shadow-slant. While he stood there, Amy pondered as to _why_ he saved her, how he saved her, when he saved her and how he found her in the first place. Why was he in Eggman's base to begin with? Was Tail's okay? And where had Sonic and Knuckles been? What had happened in the end up?

"Tell me everything..." Amy spoke softly, her voice suddenly timid and weak. "Beginning with _why_ you saved me..."

Shadow pulled in a heavy breath and opened his eyes to look down on her, whatever way the dim light had been shining into them; they seemed to glow, bringing out the intense red instead of his irises being drowned in the usual dull crimson colour. He looked at her, his orbs wide, as if he couldn't believe what she'd just said, although actually; he was questioning himself. "Why did I save you?" he said under his breath, his voice was not directed at her as such, but more at himself yet Amy had still overheard him. He wasn't exactly sure why he saved the rose-pink hedgehog but he was going to try and explain himself. When a faint image of a blonde girl was brought forth in his mind, Shadow muttered "Maria..."

All Amy could do was wait, she didn't know what went on inside Shadows head but one day, she hoped to find out how he functioned. "Why Shadow..." she prompted in a small voice.

* * *

"This is driving me crazy!" said the blue-blur as he paced Tail's living room. "I've checked with the hospital, as far as they know, no-one called Amy Rose has been admitted. I even took a spin past every ward and she wasn't there! I checked her house, nothing. She wasn't in mine, she's not here! Where the heck is she? She wouldn't be at Shadow's, would she? Because if she is, we'll never find her, Rouge doesn't even know if that freaking hedgehog has a house!"

"Sonic, please breathe for a second." The little fox said to try and calm the blue hedgehog's nerves even just the littlest bit. At this rate Sonic was going to become mentally unstable. The way his best friend had been acting recently was worrying Tails, he'd never seen the speedster so jumpy and restless. "I'm sure Shadow's with her somewhere... We've got to trust him that he's took her to somewhere safe and somewhere where she can get treated."

"You let him run off with her!" the blue hedgehog snapped angrily as his head swung around to glare at Tails. "Don't try and make it sound any better than what it actually is!" Sonic barked, Tails now hung his head low, tears prickling at the corner of his eyes; Sonic had never spoke to him in such harsh tone before.

Noticing Tails growing more upset with each second that went by, Knuckles stepped between the two. "Sonic, cut it out!" he said in a stern yet strangely calming tone. "You're upsetting him!" He placed a huge hand on Tail's head before giving it a comforting pat. "It's not Tail's fault. You're the one making the situation sound _worse_ than it already is, it's not the other way around." As the echidna turned look at the fox, the kitsune tried to force a smile, but it came out weak and faint. Looking back to Sonic, Knuckles asked, "Why have you been so uptight lately? Even before this whole Amy situation..."

After another few seconds of directing a hard stare at Tails, Sonic let out a huge sigh as his eyes softened and he hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry little bro." Spoke Sonic to Tails apologetically. "I didn't mean to say that, I know it's not your fault. I'm just... worried."

"I know. We all are." The fox replied, he didn't need an apology from his big bro, he would always be forgiven by the kitsune no matter what he had said or done.

"I'm not just worried that Amy's with... Shadow. I'm worried that I'm losing her in more ways than one..." his words were selective and hesitant, almost as if he were having a hard time getting them out.

"How so?" Knuckles asked carefully.

"She's just..." The hedgehog took a breath and rethought what he was going to say before continuing. "Ever since I dated my last girlfriend, Amy's just distanced herself from me... I knew she'd find it hard to see me with someone else but I always figured she'd stand by me no matter what I done, like she had so many other times before. Then I realised I was wrong, her love... her love for me was real... not some crazy fan-girl obsession. I think..." he stopped and took a breath of realisation, realisation that he'd caused an incredible amount of emotional pain to her, her changes were all because of him, her bitterness, her sorrow; all his fault. Their crumbling friendship; that too, was his fault.

"You think what?" Knuckles once again asked, but it was more of a prompt this time, yet he was still careful when speaking to his friend.

Sonic raised his head and closed his eyes as he felt guilt and regret flow through his veins. "I think... I really did break her heart this time."

* * *

Intense silence engulfed them for quite a while as Shadow said nothing at all, he only stared through her as if she wasn't there and it was actually beginning the freak the poor girl out. "Maria..." Amy repeated softly; it was an extremely touchy subject. Years ago, she could remember reading plenty of articles on the black and red hedgehog when some information about project S.H.A.D.O.W was finally released to the public by G.U.N officials after the ARK incident; since the whole population of the planet needed an explanation for their near death experience. Maria was briefly mentioned; the article stated that she had been murdered by G.U.N soldiers during the termination process, that she was the grand daughter of Professor Gerald Robotnik and would have been the cousin of Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Amy didn't know much about what Shadow thought of the girl, but it was evidently clear that the events of that particular day caused him a great amount of pain and sorrow, not so much the termination process or the fact that he himself was going to be destroyed but more so the death of the girl, Maria; Amy understood that Maria was one of his only friends and that he had at the time and that someday, Shadow would need to share his thoughts and feelings with somebody if he was ever going to rid himself of the pain and sorrow, the only way he could do that would be by talking it out with someone who listened and cared.

"Maria... I saved you because of her." Shadow said slowly as a reaction to her spoken name with a distant and glazed look in his intensely red eyes.

"Was it... part of your promise to her?" Amy asked softly, she didn't want to seem nosy but she at least wanted to show Shadow that she did care about how he felt and how the 'accident' affected him.

Snapping out of his memories in an instant, he eyed her suspiciously, his face strained and tense once again. "Why do you continue to ask about her?" he questioned as if he had never emotionally connected with the Maria subject at all.

"Because I care about the way she effects you." Amy said simply, truthfully, the rose-pink hedgehog was unsure of what she was saying. "Clearly, she's the reason you saved me so I thank her for influencing you. She must have been a beautiful girl if you still think about her and honor her wish everyday, a special friend."

"She was and still is." Shadow said as he began to warm to the rose-pink hedgehog, even though he hated people asking him about Maria and people poking their noses into his personal life, Amy had been doing it in a way that was not of her own interest, it seemed to Shadow that she was doing out of a true and pure kindness and this helped him trust the girl. "If she were alive today then she'd be grateful for the thing you just said. I thank you."

"You're welcome." Amy said in respect, realising Shadow was more comfortable with her now and visa versa, she shuffled over on the bed and made some space beside her. "Go on, sit down... I need to know what happened yesterday."

Shadow took a step back but reluctantly began to approach her bedside just before talking a seat on her foot of her bed. "What do you want to know?" he asked as he eventually turned to look at her, Amy found herself admiring the creature, as if he were a completely different guy, he was settled and relaxed instead of being his usual angst self. As she expected, there was more to Shadow the hedgehog than what meets the eyes. She was glad that she'd got some alone time with him, every second she spent with him helped her understand him a bit better and time helped form a bond between them.

"I just want to know if Tail's is okay and then I'll be satisfied, I promise no more questions." she said, the concern over her young friend would remain until she was sure he was okay.

"He should be, I believe his friend Sonic should have collected him outside the base as intended."

"Shadow, are you positively sure?" Amy asked with disbelief laced in her words.

"I didn't physically see the two meet up, but I did Chaos Control him to safety."

With a deep breath, Amy said to herself "I trust you Sonic."

"That reminds me that your assigned doctor has got news on you're well being, as you slept, a medical team performed a series of scans and X-rays on your limbs." Shadow informed her as he rose from the bed to turn on the light. Amy hissed as the sudden exposure to the light, the density of the brightness hurt her emerald green eyes, she through an arm over her face as a form of splitting the brightness. Hearing Shadow press a button to the side of her bed, she removed her arm to look at him.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked while she struggled to sit up properly, she winced at the pain that shot up and down her leg at the sudden attempt at movement.

"Your doctor ordered me to inform him once you've awakened. You have awakened."

"Yes, I have..." Amy said with slight sarcasm as the two began to wait.

A few minutes later, a young Mobian man in a white coat sauntered through the door with a clipboard filled with medical information in his hand . He was a grey hyena with some black and brown faded spots here and there.

"Ah, You are awake, Mrs..." his pale blue eyes moved from Amy to Shadow and then down to his Clipboard. "Sorry, _Miss _Amy Rose." he chuckled to himself for a moment before looking back up at the two, "I thought you were his wife for a second there." At his foolish words, Amy's eyes widened noticeably and she blushed extremely hard before beginning to rub at her temples awkwardly. "Apologies Miss." he apologized as he eyed the two. "Although, may I add that you two are extremely suited, are you a couple of sorts?"

Amy stared at the doctor with an embarrassed and racing heart thumping within her chest. Why the heck would this asshole even ask this? Glancing at Shadow, she reluctantly piped up since the black and red hedgehog didn't react all that much except for the usual tilt of his head as if he were finding it hard to translate the hyena's words like a confused puppy. "No sorry, we're not." she said with noticeable discomfort.

Taking a second to look at Amy, Shadow noticed her glowing red face out of embarrassment and turned to look at the doctor again with dislike in his eyes, a scowl settling on his face. Reaching into his quills, Shadow pulled out his G.U.N identification card and flipped it open. "Shadow the hedgehog, a G.U.N intelligence agent. I'm here purely on business." The doctor's eyes widened at the name, Agent Shadow and an Agent called Rouge were quite well known throughout G.U.N, but only a small amount of people ever had saw face to face with the two since they had incredibly high rankings. "I would appreciate it if you stopped playing match-maker and focused on doing your job." A small smile slipped onto Amy's muzzle at his words, that was actually... true. She wondered were her fiery temper had gone over the years? If she were the old Amy, then that doctor would've received a hammer to the face. With an amused smile, Amy sighed, she missed her old self.

"Uh... S-Sorry sir." The doctor stuttered as he hurriedly directed his gaze to his clip board as he remained under Shadow's pressurizing stare. Determined to avoid eye contact with the dark hedgehog, he looked back up at the patient and chugged on with his work frantically. "Miss Rose, we performed a couple of scans and X-rays on your right foot yesterday and it seems that almost every bone in your foot is broken in an average of four to six places per bone. We also noticed that cracks have traveled up your ankle and so we performed further scans on your limb, it too has some minor damage. We had you on morphine but now we have treated the pain in your foot with a variety of numbing injections, we will have a list of the medications we used for you shortly. You're pelvic area has also been badly bruised, do you have any idea on what might have caused the bruising?"

Amy looked puzzled for a second as she thoroughly ran through the events in her head. "Uh... Yeah... I think it might have happened as I tried to get under that stupid door. You know what happened right?" she asked.

The doctor nodded, his pale blue eyes still fixed on her. "Yes, Agent Shadow explained what he knew yesterday when he brought you in. Unfortunately, we can not do much to help you with getting justice, normally we'd have some of our agents investigate into all different types of assault cases no matter how small, but we cannot do much for you if you're injury involved Doctor Eggman, we are unable to prosecute him for any of his crimes due to his resistance towards the law."

"No, it's alright, I fight against him all the time." Amy straightened her shoulders. "Friend of Sonic's." she said proudly.

"Oh, yes, the fastest thing alive... I see. So you obtained your injury fighting alongside him?"

"Yup. A battle wound." Amy said cheerily but her smile straightened when she saw the serious look on the doctor's face.

With a straight face, the doctor took a breath and stared Amy dead in the eye. "... I am sorry to have to reveal this to you Miss Rose, but you may not be able to walk again. You see, there is a ninety-two percent chance that your foot will not fully heal, some bones will eventually heal completely overtime if you are patient but the damage is simply too much for every bone to mend itself thoroughly, you foot will be extremely weak and fragile, there my also be some problems due to possible deformalities."

"What?"

"I said that you may not be ab-"

"I know what you said, but... seriously?" Her cheeks had gone from a healthy red to dangerously pale in a matter of seconds.

The doctor nodded solemnly. Shadow closed his eyes.

Amy stared at her foot and tried to wiggle her toes, she physically couldn't. "... Shit. "

"We can release you over Christmas and bring you in for a range of different operations after the new year if you would like. Many patients prefer to spend Christmas at home although it's only a suggestion. Would you like to do the same?"

With teary eyes, Amy sniffed and gave a weak nod.

The doctor also nodded slowly in response, respecting her wishes as he sympathized with her. "Although you'll need someone at home to look after you, do you have someone to do that?"

Amy shook her head as a tear trickled from the corner of her eye, the thought of not being able to walk again was killing her. "Looks like I'm staying here..." she said, her voice little and shaky.

"I'm so sorry Miss Ross." the doctor spoke quietly as he turned away from her before hesitantly leaving the room.

Amy raised her hanging head and watched him go. She'd never felt so depressed in her entire life, Shadow was about to open his mouth just when the door swung open once again with a bang, a familiar and annoying bat strutting in. At the sound, Amy jerked, more tears began to run down her face as if the loud noise had scared them out of her wet eyes.

"Have a bit of respect!" Shadow growled at Rouge as she slowed her approaching and came to a stop.

"What's wrong with her?" Rouge asked insensitively. Shadow looked to the ceiling and gritted his sharp teeth. Sometimes Rouge was great with things like this, other times she seemed to just not give a shit. Today seemed to be one of her 'I don't care' days. Between him and Rouge, the bat would know how to deal with this better than he did, hopefully she would help Shadow out later on.

Rouge looked back and forth from Shadow and Amy, Amy was crying, Shadow was glaring at her through angry eyes, a stare she was only met with when she'd did something wrong such as blowing their cover on a mission. And the first thought that occurred to her was that Shadow, for some weird reason, _cared_ about that pink-hedgehog.

With nothing less than an arrogant laugh, she asked "When were you able to make friends outside of business, Shad?"

Something snapped deep within Shadows mind. "Out."

"Fine. As you wish." she said with a shrug before spinning on the heel and looking back at her colleague. "... But just before I go, I got a call from Sonic asking me to check if Amy was within G.U.N and I don't think her blue boyfriend will be two happy that you, Shad, denied me the chance to find out how she is, he wanted me to pass on information about her well-being. He's really, and I mean _really_ worried about her."

Shadow narrowed his eyes into a cold glare. "Go find her doctor, he just left and he's got all her medical stats recorded, show him you're identification card and I'm sure he'll have no problem getting you a copy of the information. Now get out."

The bat raised her eyebrows at Shadow's strange behavior and rolled her eyes. Just as she went to strut out again, Amy lifted her head and whispered "Wait..." but the bat didn't hear her and marched out the door and down the hallway, leaving Amy's question hanging on her tongue. Sonic and her had only made up a few days ago, and they were both still fragile but she had agreed to come for Christmas dinner anyways, she really felt the need to, at the least, give him a call and tell him she was alive and, to some extent, well. Tears once again blurred her version as she turned and lifted her battered leg over the side of the bed, a sharp pain shooting through her hip at the movement.

"What are you doing?" the dark hedgehog asked as Amy hissed while standing up using her good leg. Putting pressure on her demented foot, she tried to take one step but let out and agonizing cry before falling to the ground, completely stunned due to the pain. Shadow's eyes widened, "You're foolish." he commented as he walked to her side before putting a strong arm around her tiny shoulders. Enjoying the heat radiating his warm body, Amy nodded in bewilderment and she savored his touch. He helped her stand before lifting her into him arms. Amy let out a tiny "Woah" as she felt her feet being eased of the ground. "But you're determined." he added while setting her back down gently onto the white bed sheets.

With the wet trails of tears drying on her now flushed cheeks, Amy asked, "Is that a good thing?" the black hedgehog nodded as he once again took a seat at the bottom of her bed.

"I believe it is, yes."

She smiled shyly and lowered her head, she had really begun to enjoy his company, it was fresh and new and so sweet, something she would have never associated at all with Shadow in the past. "Thank you... for all this... You've been so kind." looking up, she found the hedgehog looking into her eyes, unafraid of making direct eye contact unlike her.

"Uh... You're welcome, I guess." he replied, she swore she saw a twitch of a smile occupy his lips, even if it was just for a fraction of a second.

* * *

"Uh-huh. This is him." Sonic spoke into the phone. Tails and Knuckles stood close by, listening in closely to Sonic's side of the conversation. "Oh, thank god!" Sonic suddenly exclaimed happily, a smile bursting onto his face. This caused Knuckles to smile and Tail's to make a little leap of joy. By the sounds of things, they'd finally located Amy and all it took was one single phone call. "Thanks Rouge, how is she?... Uh... did you find out?" There was a long silence as the bat explained from her end of the line and Sonic's face fell. "Well, is there a way of seeing her? When's the first operation?" Tail's and Knuckle's faces paled. Operation? Oh no. "Okay... Um... that would be great if you could, call me back then once you have... Yeah, that's fine. Okay, bye and thanks." The hedgehog said before he hung up and turned to face his two friends.

Knuckles stepped forward a little. "She there?" Sonic nodded. "That's great!"

"Is she okay?" the little fox asked, pure concern in his little blue eyes.

"She's injured and G.U.N only let family and authorized employees in to see their patients..." Sonic said with a strained voice. "It's my fault, I let one of the most important people in my life down." Taking a seat on the couch nearby, he put his head in his hands. "What's she going to think now? She's going to hate me! She'll never accept my apology, I don't want to lose her..."

"No, Sonic..." Tail's said as he took a seat beside the cerulean hedgehog. "If anyone, she'll blame me... I was there, she was trying to save me."

Knuckles clenched his fists. "Pfft. Listen to the both of you, nobody is at fault for this..." he became plagued in brief thought for a moment before adding "Actually, Eggman is! And I'm going to go _right now_ and knock him right out into space!"

Sonic looked up and Tail's reached out to stop the echidna. "No, Knuckles!" both of them said in unison as Knuckles took off and stomped out into the street.

Sighing, Sonic rose to his feet. "Damn." he muttered as he sped out to stop the red echidna's rampage.

* * *

"Christmas is going to really suck this year..." Amy spoke with a sigh as she fiddled with a bang of rosy-pink hair, watching the hedgehog at the foot of her bed through the corner of her eye.

"And why's that?" Shadow asked with a raised eyebrow. Amy looked at him and shot him an disbelieving look.

"You should know, I'll be stuck in here wondering whether I'll ever be able to walk again..."

"Yes, I'm sorry. I knew that of course and... I can't imagine how horrible you must feel." Shadow added. "But for me, Christmas is never that great anyway."

"What?!" Amy said in shock. "You don't like Christmas?"

"I don't see why it's so appealing." Shadow replied simply.

"Gosh, you should really come for Christmas dinner some year, it's always fun once the cooking's over and done with. I think you'd like it. It's that time of year for getting close to people and sitting by the fire drinking eggnog." Amy said with a giggle as fond memories filled her head. "I've always loved it."

"No I wouldn't." Shadow said before becoming curious. "This eggnog you speak of... Is it in relation to Dr. Robotnik, because if it is then I suggest that no being on this planet should drink it."

Amy giggled a little bit more. "No, silly. It's a drink that involves eggs, Sonic gave Eggman the nickname because he looks like an egg, that's all."

He shrugged of the fact that she had called him silly, to be honest, he didn't mind. Shadow thought about it for a moment. "Well, I suppose the Doctor is a little bit rounded. It seems fitting."

Amy nodded. "I think 'little bit' is a bit of an understatement " she said with sweet smile directed at Shadow, the black and red hedgehog found the smile on Amy's face... nice... almost beautiful. He blinked twice in surprise at his thoughts before directing his gaze casually towards the bed sheets, this was strange... he_ felt_ strange. He'd never thought like this before. Why now? What was different about this girl in comparison to everyone else? He became frustrated and tightened his fists, there was so much he didn't understand. Amy watched as the hedgehog noticeably became ridged.

It was unfair that the girl had to spend such a time in a hospital bed, the ebony and crimson hedgehog supposed Christmas only came around once a year, and he hated the fact that she was unable to spend a time she enjoyed so much in comfort. Relaxing his fists and looking up, he lent back against the metal barrier at the bottom of the bed before asking, "Would you rather spend Christmas at home?"

Confused at his behavior, Amy nodded anyway. "Yes, honestly I would but I'd rather stay here knowing that I'm safe instead of being in my house on my own... That's a recipe for disaster."

"Well..." Shadow's crimson eyes searched the bed sheets as he thought _**'what the hell am I thinking?'** _but it was like the words had intentions of their own, slipping through his lips, those words were a question. "If you allowed me, would you be more comfortable at home if I were there to watch over you just to make sure you were okay?"

Amy was thankful she still had skin and muscle keeping her jaw in place, otherwise it would've dropped right off. Shadow... he was requesting to look after her? Had he gone mad, no, had she gone mad instead? Maybe she was having really realistic illusions, maybe she was hearing things. "You'd... do that... for me?" she said, pointing at herself. "Did I just hear right? Are you okay?"

Shadow's eyes widened at her reaction and he cleared his throat. "Yes, I would, you did and I am." but Amy just stared at him in complete awe. A bubble of happiness and excitement exploding inside of her, making her heart flop about in her chest.

"Uh.. um... I wouldn't mind!" she exclaimed, nerves washing over her. "I-I mean, I don't want to be a nuisance or anything..."

"You're modest, I understand that." Shadow said with half a nod as he stood up. Amy blushed and turned away, not wanting Shadow to she the burning color spreading across her cheeks. "You're not a nuisance, I just feel the need to repay you for all those years ago." Of course Shadow knew that his explanation wasn't the whole story but it would be until he found out what was going on with him.

Despite the color of her cheeks, she shifted towards him a little bit. "Do you mean the ARK?"

"Yes. Without you, I wouldn't have realized Maria's true dying wish, and this planet would have been destroyed along with everyone on it. Thank you." he paused and held out his hand. "So, do you accept my offer?"

She looked at his outstretched hand and back up to his face, realizing he was _extremely_ handsome_, _he was more good-looking now than she had ever thought him to be_. _Maybe it was his expression, a expression that was so un-Shadow like, his lips sat on the turning point of a smile, he's eyes glittered and blinked like everyone else's, she loved the way his chest fluff brushed of his chin and she felt the need to just reach out and fluff it, of course, she repressed those urges. To an extent she could even say there was something cute and lovable about him. "Okay, fine. I accept the offer." she said while taking his hand and giving it a firm shake, unable to believe what was happening. This was the last thing she expected from this hedgehog, but he had proven to be full of surprises so far. Once they both let go, Shadow turned away from her and walked towards the door. "Where are you going?" she questioned.

"I'm going to sign you out and collect all the medical equipment you need."

It was like all the hesitation she felt restricting her had left her in that second, she didn't care what she said anymore. "Oh, Okay... Go ahead and do that while I relax." she said with grin, this definitely wasn't a dream, she pinched herself for the second time that day, nope, definitely not a dream.

Shadow slipped out the door without saying another word and Amy lay back to stare at the ceiling, a permanent smile stuck on her face. Who knew Shadow could be such a gentleman? Who knew Shadow could be this... stranger he was now?

Who could have predicted she'd find herself having a slight crush on one of the most angst, rude and ridiculous hedgehogs to ever walk on the planet. She couldn't deny anything anymore, she knew better, she knew this feeling inside out, the beginnings of a feeling that had caused her to do many crazy things.

And all those thoughts over a blue-hedgehog had been discarded, thrown away.

Sonic was losing Amy fast to the unpredictable, the impossible.

Shadow the Hedgehog.

* * *

**Thank you for reading, leave a review if you liked it, reviews are my motivation. I'm also happy to answer any questions you have down here starting next chapter.**

**__****Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or anything related to it, rightfully belongs to SEGA.**


	5. Her Warm Aura

**Hi, I'm back again. Sorry once again for the huge update gaps, hopefully updates will pick up again now that my internet is back up and running.**

**Here's the next chapter of Iced Over, if you like it, let me know. There was no particular music used in this one, all I remember is that I used a lot of slow songs and Celtic music. I'd also like to thank everyone who has dropped a review so far, thanks for taken time to do so - it keeps me writing. *heart***

* * *

_**Iced Over**_

**Chapter 5 – Her Warm Aura**

The light due to Chaos Control dispersed around them, revealing them to be across the street from the pink hedgehog's house. Amy shivered fiercely, unable to wrap her arms around her body because of the crutches on on her arms, anyway, she would have toppled over without the support so she wasn't really that bothered, instead she was thankful. But the crimson and ebony hedgehog and she stood in about two feet of snow, it was hard enough as it was to stand with crutches; the snow would make almost all the more difficult. They were literally buried to their shins in the stuff but luckily Amy had got dressed into something warm, she'd abandoned her usual red dress and boots for an over-sized snug jumper and a pair of loose tracksuit bottoms which her doctor had kindly supplied along with all of her medical requirements, the bag of various medicines and drugs currently was hanging loosely over her shoulder. "It seems there's been another blizzard overnight." Shadow commented in his typical informative sort of way. At his words Amy began to ponder over how long she'd been in hospital. A few kids on slays had halted in their antics to see who the new arrivals were; as well as looking seemingly stunned by the sudden flash of bright, white light, they looked kind of freaked out at the fact that two had arrived by Chaos Control, a concept completely foreign to normal citizens, they'd just materialized out of nowhere. Amy turned to look at the bunch of kids and greeted them with a small smile, recognizing one of them to be her neighbors son. Amy was definitely one of those more friendly neighbors; where she got on well with everyone and would happily stop for a ten minute chat in the middle of the street.

"Hey Ricky- Woah!" she greeted with a little wave before almost tumbling, the crutches having barely any grip whatsoever, there was a thick layer of ice under the sheets upon sheets of fluffy snow. Shadow was quick to grab her arm to keep her upright. She glanced to his side, "Thanks." she said breathlessly.

"Hi Miss Rose!" the boy named Ricky shouted, he was a small brown cat, almost identical to his dad who just so happened to be a large brown cat. "My mum wanted to know if you were okay? Sonic was speaking to her... It was Sonic! I was there, and I saw Sonic!" he exclaimed excitedly like any kid would if they had saw their biggest idol, Amy giggled, it seemed like Sonic had did quite a bit of searching for her, he'd even took time to ask the neighbors, she supposed that was sweet of him.

"Oh, tell her I'm fine." Amy said while waving the subject of the matter off. "Just a few small cuts and stuff, that's all. Was Sonic nice? Did he teach you any cool moves?" she asked enthusiastically.

The boy nodded. "Yeah, he was awesome, I asked him to do the spin dash and he did! It was awesome! And then he shot off like - like at super speed! He's so fast!"

"Wow! Sounds incredible." she said with a light laugh. She always found it cute how many kids looked up to Sonic; he was this squeaky-clean, heroic and influential figure that even the parents loved to bits. Everyday, she could flick through the channels of a TV and at least come across one channel where it covered the heroic stories of Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Amy, I'm unsure as to whether standing in these temperatures will benefit you." Shadow interjected, his tone rather synonymous and flat, and she detected a slight pinch of sarcasm, the dark hedgehog had always had that characteristic since the very beginning, he knew straight and well that she wouldn't benefit from freezing temperatures at all.

Rolling her eyes, Amy new that it meant he didn't want her outside and so she shot him stubborn glance before looking back to Ricky, her eyes softening again. "I've got to go now, but tell your mum I'll come around for a cuppa soon, okay?"

The boy nodded and jumped back onto his slay. "Okie-dokie Miss Rose, I will!" he said as one of his friends began shouting and tugging the slay along the snow with Ricky on it.

Amy waved the little boy off as he went back to playing in the snow and turned to Shadow again, the hedgehog still having a firm grip on her arm. "So, Chaos Control was inaccurate?"

The dark hedgehog, who's fur contrasted completely with the color of the snow, nodded and simply replied with, "It was." In his free hand he had the red Chaos Emerald gripped loosely and this time with a simple thought, he activated Chaos Control, the emerald beginning to glow vibrantly.

In the next couple of seconds, Amy found herself in her own living room; the room had cream walls and an abstract pattern was on the wall behind the black, shining fireplace. She also had two couches, a single seated and a triple seated one, as well as a TV and a bunch of framed photos of Sonic, the gang and her all placed on little wooden coffee tables along with candles and other small ornaments and trinkets, actually, it was a recurring theme throughout her house apart from her main bedroom; the room of which was mostly filled with all different kinds of pinks and whites. The Christmas tree was positioned in one corner, decorated very evenly, with sparkling gold and red tinsel and gold and red bobbles to match, an array of fake snow sprinkled over it with white lights neatly wrapped around it, it was topped of with a glittering gold star as well. Shadow recognized these to be everywhere at this time of year, a part of the Christmas tradition he understood. Exhaling, Amy sighed in complete relief and hopped over to the triple seated couch before flopping down on it, flinging the bag of medicines onto the floor and spreading her arms out wide as she levered her injured foot up. "Heaven..." she breathed while picking up a patterned pillow and snuggling into it. Shadow only stood very still while turning his head to look around, usually on a mission he'd investigate as much as he could but this was a different situation. Amy smiled as she watched the black hedgehog study the place surrounding him, she couldn't believe this, Shadow the hedgehog: he was in her own living room, but he looked... uneasy? That was to be expected of him after all. "Make yourself at home." she said, her voice warm and elated, hoping that it alone would help the hedgehog loosen up. She only received silence in return, making her question this whole idea of his. Why would he offer to watch over her if he didn't want to? She had to admit, if that were the case then it was a pretty stupid thing to do. "Are you sure you're okay with this? I mean, you look a bit uncomfortable just standing there, your body language kind of tells me that you're not."

Shadow closed his black angled eyelids and lowered his head in half a nod, "It's an unfamiliar environment, that's all." he spoke before his eyes snapped open and he straightened his posture, lips pressing into a thin line.

Amy played with a lock of pick hair as she pondered. "So... you're saying you've never been in someones house before? What's your idea of familiar?"

Shadow's streaked quills swayed as he gave a quick shake of his head. "Not necessarily, I'm more accustomed to militant environments, in more hostile situations with given orders." Was he basically saying he didn't know what to do here because he wasn't given pacific instructions? Sighing, Amy asked no-one in particular why he had to be so difficult, so complicated. She noticed that he continued to stand extremely still, with only occasional shuffling as he shifted his weight onto the other foot now and again, and over time, his arms had become folded across his fluffy chest. Amy stared at that white patch for just a second, she really, _really_ wanted to touch it, it called out to her.

"In that case, pretend your house is just like mine, and treat it like home." she said, the words lightly floating out of her mouth as she continued to think about Shadow before suddenly snapping out of her day-dream induced thoughts and focusing on him as a whole again, not just on that little bit of chest fluff he had.

He'd noticed her staring, and shuffled awkwardly. Parting his deeply tanned lips, he thought about what she'd said for a moment. She mentioned a house? He didn't have one. "I have no need for one as G.U.N constantly requires me for the missions their human recruits cannot handle."

"Cannot handle - as in destroying Eggman's robots and kicking ass?" Amy said, her lips puckering into a compressed smile as she tried to prevent it from showing.

"You could say that." the other hedgehog said in assent, his expression completely serious while Amy only bowed her head to hide the contrast in moods.

Looking up again after a period of short, empty silence, both not sure what to say to the other, Amy decided to ask the one question that had been lingering in the back of her mind since Shadow had revealed that he didn't have any accommodation whatsoever. "Well, where do you live then? I mean, we've all got to eat, sleep and drink somewhere... I like to laze about in my house and watch TV sometimes, I find it relaxing."

She was met with a blank stare, his crimson eyes running over her face and body for the millionth time that day, "I have a suspension capsule located at G.U.N headquarters, I don't need to eat or drink as the substance within my capsule supplies minerals that are needed to keep me alive, they are absorbed through my skin."

Amy gaped, it was interesting nevertheless, and then wrinkled her nose up at the thought of Shadow floating in a horrible gooey substance, which she could imagine was like the sort from some kind of sci-fi channel on TV, a luminescent, electrifying colored goo, with added bubbles. "If you really mean what you said; that you'll stay and look after me, then how in the world will you survive outside of that capsule? It's your source of life!" Shadow 'hmphed' and his lip twitched slightly.

"I'll learn." he said in an attempt to sound assuring, but it was unconvincing. There was something about everything Shadow said, he always sounded so serious, so uptight, and it made Amy think, was this plan even remotely possible? Would this hedgehog, who most definitely wasn't a people person, even be able to last a full day around her?

She knew the answer was no. "You can't look after me..." she sounded assertive, positive that she was correct and her voice sounded dead set to Shadow's ears. He only shook his head.

"I can." he said - resisting the urge to throw in 'I am the Ultimate Life Form'. Rouge had told him it sounded big headed and obnoxious and besides, it didn't apply this instance - his voice also becoming a lot more determined, he had a little bit of instinct on how to care for another, but his knowledge was slim. Doubts, they were also present in his mind. He had no idea what he was in for, where to begin, in fact, he had no idea what possessed him to make such a request in the first place, but every time he looked at this girl, he knew it was necessary. With his extremely stubborn mindset, he could think about the smallest thing for days on end, and at the moment his mind was continuously trying to label this feeling he felt when he was around her, when his sight drifted to the unlit logs in the fireplace he thought about a burning fire, leading his thoughts onto 'heat' and then... Warmth, was that it? It seemed to fit. He felt warm around her. Amy's presence, it felt similar to Maria's, he looked back to her and asked "How shall I start?" knowing that questions would probably be best, despite the fact he hated people asking him stuff.

It was then a glowing smile passed over Amy's face and Shadow finally settled on the term warm, it was a warm smile. "Well," she paused and inhaled a long breath, relieved that Shadow had took the right approach. "I suppose you could lighten up and smile, and maybe take a seat and relax." With a unsure shrug, she nipped her lip in await of his response.

He blinked a couple of times, just staring at her in confusion. "You want me to... smile?" What use was such a thing to her? She nodded and looked at him through bright eyes.

"Yeah. What's wrong with that?" she asked, her orbs now sparkling in amusement.

"Uh..." and he began to try and force a smile but was unable to, his face becoming strained at his failure. Amy giggled at his attempt though. "I can't." he responded dully before quickly adding, "I'm not stupid and I know that this is not necessary."

Puffing, Amy stared at him with a flat expression on her face. "Oh, you're so serious..." she complained before then welcoming a soft expression once more when Shadow furrowed his eyebrows, half-angry, half-confused. "I just want you to be happy, that's all." she said slowly. Now that, those words, they were an echo of what Maria had said to him when he was young and confused over his existence; it was a faint memory, unrelated and separate from all the other bits and pieces scattered within his mind but he felt close to her again, even if it was only for that second after Amy had said the words. Subconsciously, the smile Amy wanted to see, surfaced as the dark hedgehog became lost in thought. Was it something she had said? Must have been. But it wasn't like Shadow to take compliments or concerns to heart, neither good or bad. Certain and proven right, she knew he could smile; she'd been the only one to see him cry that day back on the ARK and was absolutely positive that he could smile; crying was a sign of sadness, and so he'd must have had a taste of happiness before if he were able to feel the opposite emotion. Although she wasn't sure; Amy could guess that Shadow's friendship with Maria had been his source of happiness.

"You're smiling..." she said in amazement, it lightened his face so beautifully, he looked more approachable, less moody; even if it were only the tiniest curve of a lip, it still changed that forever somber look he always seemed to have. Words travelling through air, her voice lured him out of his thoughts once more.

"huh?" he asked and once he was in an aware state again, it straightened out.

Noticing it was gone as quick as it had came, her face fell. "Uh... never mind." she looked up at him again and began rubbing her arms. "It's a bit chilly, don't you think?" Shadow responded with a single nod and turned to face the fireplace which he'd spied earlier on, she was hinting for heat; quite an easy thing to understand and accomplish, and so he acted on it, after all, he would have to take care of her somehow.

Raising his hand above his head, Shadow rose his voice and said, "Chaos Spear!" It was spoken with less force than that of which he would normally use. Amy screamed as the smaller-than-usual golden projectile flew from his hand and straight into the fire pit, the chaos sparks igniting the wood. When the smoke had cleared, she saw the faint scorch marks on the cave of the pit yet it left a small, crackling and cozy fire. "Is that alright?" he asked as he turned around to look at her again, looking for her verdict.

Once she'd recovered from the surprise at his use of powers, she allowed her eyes to widen as she blushed. "Uh... it's perfect, thank you."

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" he asked with a slight hesitation, she nodded before reaching out towards the TV, wiggling the tips of her fingers as if they would magically make whatever she wanted move towards her outstretched hand like a magnet to metal, it might have worked if she were Silver though.

With a giggle, she said, "Just pass me the remote and that'll be it." Shadow did so without a word and she happily took it of him and turned on the telly, flicking through the various channels while searching for something to watch. The crimson and ebony hedgehog took a seat in the single seated couch and wondered what the hell he was doing. He was Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form, and here he was sitting with a pink hedgehog he barely knew, who happened to be Sonic's number one fan girl.

When he thought about it, where was the blue hedgehog anyway? Shouldn't he have showed up by now?

And that was when the phone rang.

* * *

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles had all left to go and get chilidogs down in Central Park where the best chilidog stand in the world was located. When the front door of the kitsune's house was opened, the mouth watering smell of hot chilidogs filtered in through every room. Sonic walked in first with three chilidogs, one in his mouth, one in his right hand and one in his left, before shaking his blue fur, flakes of snow loosening up and falling from it. Knuckles and Tails were not far behind, Tails had one chilidog too but Knuckles had finished his on the way home, obviously not savoring it like the other two had.

Devouring the one sticking out of his mouth in one huge gulp, Sonic hummed in ecstasy. "Nothing makes you feel better than a couple of these guys." he said before taking a bite out of the second one. "How did you know it would be open on a day like this anyways..." he said in reference to the chilidog stand before stopping and taking another bite, munching a lot slower this time. "It's absolutely freezing out, everything's covered in snow and that guy still opens his little stand, what a legend!"

"I told you it would be a good idea." Tails said and he left to check the answering machine in the hallway. "Didn't you see how packed Central Park was with all the families out sleighing? I suppose he gets a lot of great business every year." The kitsune found that he had one new message.

The red echidna sauntered past both of them and into the living room, then throwing himself down on the couch and kicking his feet up. "Nothing beats a nice, warm chilidog on a cold, winters day. Ain't that right Sonic?" he shouted out at the two, the blue hedgehog nodded and looked to Tails, Tails raised his eyebrows and motioned his head for Sonic to come over.

"What's wrong buddy?" he asked as he approached Tails alongside the answering machine. "What is it?"

"It's G.U.N's number on the voice mail, Rouge must have got back to us..." he said, a gloved finger hovering over the play button.

Sonic eyes widened. "Then what are we waiting for?" With that, Tails pressed play.

Almost immediately the bats voice filled the hallway, with Knuckles' hearing becoming a lot more tentative as he tried to get an ear full from where he was sitting in the other room. "Good news, boys. Your friend has left the medical facility here..." there was a long pause in the recording, the bat probably recounting the things she had to tell them."Aaaaand... Yeah, that's all I've really got to say, so it seems my job is now done here." and unsurprisingly, that was where it ended.

Tails turned to Sonic, the cerulean hedgehog's emerald green eyes shining in deep thought. "Sonic, before you get any ideas... I think you should-"

"- should go for a walk?" he said slowly, finishing Tails' sentence incorrectly. "Yeah, I think I should too." Tails gaped as Sonic quickly passed him his chilidog-and-a-half before speeding out the front door again. Knuckles appeared in the living room door frame, scratching his head.

Dumbfounded, Tails stared at the echidna and said, "... I was going to say wait a while before going to see Amy."

"I can see your point, but Sonic _is_ Sonic." Knuckles stated with a fair expression as he continued, "He's always looking for a challenge, but I'd say the hardest one of all would be waiting around, standing still and being patient."

With a sigh, Tails looked out through the door that the blue-blur had left wide open to the world. "I guess you're right."

* * *

The ringing was sore on both their ears, and it continued to ring and ring and ring. Eventually, Amy went to stand but when Shadow even spotted the first signs of movement, he briskly got to his feet. "I'll get it." he said as he strode out into Amy's hallway without a second glance, not exactly knowing his way around her house either, but all he simply had to do was follow the sound of the ringing until he found the source. Of course, it was coming from the phone sitting on the hall table so he didn't have to search for long.

Picking it up, he said, "Hello?" his voice deep and calm.

The person on the other end gasped as they heard the voice of a male instead of Amy. "Oh, I'm sorry, I must have dialed the wrong number-"

"Hold on..." he said with a thoughtful drawl, his voice deep and husky. "You're looking for Amy?" he questioned, knowing that this person probably was expecting the girl instead of him.

The voice, a female, sounded slightly surprised, her voice was a bit high and nasally too. "Actually, Yes I am."

"Then you've got the right number." Shadow informed her.

"Well then young man, could you put her on? Tell her it's her mother." the woman on the other end replied, now sounding mildly interested, her voice livening up a little bit.

"She's preoccupied at the moment." he responded. "If you could leave a message then-"

"Shadow!" the pink-hedgehog yelled from the other room, hearing the dark hedgehog's voice nice and clear, TV now on mute. "Just because I've got a broken foot doesn't mean I can't take a phone call, besides, it's a hand-held so bring it here!"

Grunting, Shadow then re-appeared in the living room, phone in hand. He passed it to Amy before taking a seat again, he pink hedgehog flashing a brief but grateful smile before holding the speaker to her ear. "Hello, who is it?" she asked.

"Amy darling, it's me!" her mum chimed over the other end. Suddenly slapping her hand over the receiver, Amy shot Shadow a frantic look, the dark hedgehog tilted his head in confusion at her abrupt change in behavior.

"It's my mum!" she quickly whispered at Shadow. The hedgehog nodded his acknowledgment as a response. Pulling a face, Amy removed her hand from the phone and spoke reluctantly. "Oh, um... Hi mum, how are you?"

"I'm fine honey." her mother replied. "Your father and I are on our way to your house right now, the main roads have all been plowed... But were stuck in a traffic jam, it's moving rather slowly." Amy squeaked, she had completely forgotten that her parents usually came to visit her on Christmas Eve to give her presents and stuff like that... Christmas Eve! It was Christmas Eve already? She cursed under her breath and searched for something to say. With all this drama going on with, well, everything, she'd completely lost track of the date and time, it was a good job she'd sorted presents early. Her mother laughed at hearing the squeak. "I hope you didn't forget our little visit."

"Uh, no, I didn't! it's just been a bit... crazy around here lately. And please take your time, I don't want any accidents." Amy said as she threw her leg over the side of the couch, hissing at the pain that she'd almost completely forgotten was there. Shadow, who wanted her to stay seated, narrowed his fiery red eyes in her direction. They were very demanding, even without words, the message was clear, he could see very well that she was in pain.

"Honey, are you okay?" asked her mother. "You sound a little... panicked? worried?"

"No, no! I'm fine!" Amy retorted straight away, straightening her posture but remaining sitting down, Shadow looking towards her with satisfaction. "How long will it take you to get here?"

"That's why I'm ringing, we might not get here until tonight... It'll be really late darling, I'm sorry." Amy held back a sigh before massaging her temple.

Not wanting to have to offer, but doing the polite thing that any daughter would do, she said, "You two can stay the night here then, if you want... I have a spare room with a double bed but I have plans for Christmas dinner tomorrow, I promised Sonic I'd go, just thought I'd warn you, so don't be expecting a huge dinner or anything..."

Her mother 'Ooed 'down the phone and Amy cringed, her face reddening. "Oh, that's perfectly fine honey, I understand. He's that good-looking blue fellow isn't he? The handsome one? Always on TV?"

"Yeah..."

"Is he with you now? The boy who answered the phone?" It was this - her mothers interest in Amy's love life - that annoyed the pink hedgehog. She barely ever saw her mum all year, usually the only form of communication being over the phone, but when she did finally speak or meet up with her mum, she always seemed more interested about who she was involved with, nothing else, it was pure nosiness and she didn't even try to hide it.

"Um... No. That was just some other dude I know." Amy replied dryly.

"Oh Amy, we both know what that means, I once was a young girl myself... There's no need to try and pull the wool over my eyes." and Amy rolled hers at the words, annoyance growing. "What's his name?"

Eyeing Shadow, she wondered what her mum would think of him, he was the complete opposite of Sonic, and so she figured her mum wouldn't approve, Mrs Rose didn't like 'dodgy' people, although Shadow wasn't at all dodgy, but Amy was pretty sure that if he wasn't Sonic, her mum would hate him; Dark, mysterious, strong, intimidating and scary, to a stranger anyway, and he had the complete opposite of Sonic and Amy's personality's. A mischievousness smile took form on her muzzle. "He's Shadow."

There was a pause, "His name, it sounds... interesting. I recognize it."

The doorbell interrupted Amy, both the pink and ebony hedgehogs' ears perking up and Shadow turned to look out of the window, a natural scowl of dislike settling on his face. Amy watched him and instantly knew something was up. "Sorry mum, I've got to go... but see you later! Can't wait!"

"Oh, okay sweet-cheeks, Bye!" and with that, Amy hung up.

She immediately looked to Shadow, seeing the distasteful look on his face, and asked, "Who is it?"

"It's that blue-hedgehog." he spoke bluntly while watching said hedgehog carefully through the panes of glass.

Her heart, unsure whether to beat erratically because of nerves or the slight tracings of love Amy still felt for him, but otherwise, it's beat picked up. Her eyes becoming desperate as she looked to Shadow, knowing that Sonic wouldn't be okay with him looking after her, that blue-hedgehog had been many things lately, but his usual full-of-faith self wasn't one of them. She'd gathered that from their last brief encounter, the only one since that apologetic text and it had taken lots of effort on his part to convince Amy to come; she being scared and angry and unsure to how she would have reacted to his face, in the end up she had approached it calmly and it had turned out okay, no slaps, no shouting, no crying, instead she had decided to hide all her thoughts and feelings and listen to what he had to say. When they did finally meet up, he and she had talked in one of the most well known coffee chops in town before going for a walk through the park, it was Amy who had suggested they'd go to _Starbucks_ since he was so desperate to see her and she'd predicted he'd agree to anything, Sonic gracefully obliged as expected. During their time there, he explained a lot of things such as his break up with his ex and how he couldn't stand losing Amy over it and despite him saying a lot of touching things to Amy, things her past self would have been delighted with, this time around she still felt icy feelings lingering within herself, although they were faint, they were certainly still there; it was that sting of the once constant rejection she'd suffered, it was definitely the foundations for all her sadness she'd suffered, maybe it would never go away, like a small scar, fading but never fully healing, much like her foot now. Yet that one brief meeting was enough to postpone those feelings of hate, sadness, heartbreak and rejection from growing, somehow, it had even reversed them, but not to the extent they had completely gone, Amy figured a small part of them would never be gone for good, the damage had already been done. A faint but permanent image, she'd always see Sonic as something she could never have. The anger she still felt over him: what angered Amy was the fact that Sonic could never just _end it_, never leave her alone for good, he was the one to ask for forgiveness, he was the one to get back in contact with her. Her devastation was basically the way he had her wrapped around his little finger, that feeling of loving someone but never being able to have them. When Amy had been younger, she had never allowed herself to believe that their love was unrequinted, now she had accepted that she may always feel for Sonic with him never to return those feelings. An unrequinted love. An image he himself had created, he was untouchable.

Frozen in movement and engulfed in thought, right now, she felt like she were going to smash something. Snapping out of her daydream, she whispered "Oh God." aloud, realizing the amount of thought she'd given Sonic, it disgraced her. Not this again, it was different telling herself she was done mulling over him, but when he was just outside her house, it stimulated her thoughts and feelings for the worse. Maybe she was cursed to be spell bound by Sonic until the day she died, she wished that would be proven to be untrue.

When her glazed eyes fell upon the darker one, however, she found Shadow to be an incomplete piece of art, he was a canvas with the outline of a picture painted on it; unfinished. With a basic idea on what he was like, he still hadn't took a particular shape in Amy's head, well... a statement slightly untrue, but close; she didn't know him well enough. So far Amy believed he could find the will to be decent but he had always been slightly harsh and a bit isolated, those aspects portrayed 'typical Shadow', yet he had not done anything too obscure for Amy to judge him and make a final decision, he had swayed and hinted change, it felt strange as Amy thought about a changed Shadow; fearless, scornful and domineering on the battlefield as usual, but sensitive and compassionate to those around him, a vision so far from reality, but a girl could wonder. To add to that, she did think he was... hot. It felt like a betrayal, thinking this with Sonic only ten feet away, but Amy didn't hide the truth from herself anymore. Shadow had good looks and there was no denying that. She'd thought that before, it was no surprise.

Ceasing her thinking, she focused her glazed gaze on something and got an eyeful of Shadow's frowning face. You'd have to be dumb to miss the change of atmosphere at that second, even Shadow, who didn't quite understand the many social protocols of life, noticed it. "The blue hedgehog, he effects your mood." he mentioned, lacking the sensitivity needed to sound inviting.

"He does?" Amy breathed while breaking eye contact with Shadow.

Shadow did his usual single nod. "He does." there was a pause. "Why does he do such a thing?"

Green orbs shifting from the ground, he was immediately meet with a stare that was confused, angered and hesitant. Amy furrowed her eye ridges as her face began to heat up, of course Shadow would never understand. "You'd listen if I told you?" she began, a sour tone to it. "You've never listened to anyone." her last sentence tasted bittersweet as it slipped out from her mouth, feeling guilty because the hedgehog had did nothing wrong to deserve it nor it's tone. He'd only asked a simple question, clearly because he didn't understand. She frowned ruefully at him.

"And you'd know that, how?" replied Shadow bitterly. That was untrue, he knew it to be untrue. Maria, his ears had always be open to her soft voice, but she was gone now, her voice to be unheard of to his ears forever more. An even more obvious point was that he did have fully functioning ears, and he wasn't exactly pleased with her distasteful tone either.

"I didn't mea-"

Predicting her retaliation, Shadow interrupted. "No. Of course you didn't." Amy noted slight sarcasm was present, and hung her head low. She didn't want to mess up her time with Shadow, it had been going so well. "And if I offended you, then please know I was unaware of it."

"No. No!" replied Amy frantically, her voice jumpy. "You didn't offend me... I just, uh, have to deal with Sonic and then I'll tell you, that's if you really want to know... because you are right, he's-" she flinched on the couch at the sound of pounding on the window, Sonic's face peering through the glass. "Oh shit!" she whispered, the blue-cerulean hedgehog's face distorting at not just the sight of Amy, but Shadow too, in the living room, more so at Shadow. Sighing weakly, Shadow and her eyes met. "He's seen you now..."

"Do you want me to let him in?"

"Sure, you might as well." Amy put her hands in her lap and held them tight, this was going to be a nightmare. "But please... try and avoid inflaming the rivalry between you two, he believes it to be a friendly one, but you..." she paused quickly to change her course of words, knowing that Shadow wouldn't exactly want to except that he would be the more likely one to start a fight. "He won't be happy knowing that I've approved of you looking after me, he'll think I'm crazy."

"If he doesn't approve of me then he can replace me if he wishes." Shadow said almost instantly before striding out, Amy beginning to break a sweat at Shadow's words, at this moment in time, she'd rather have Shadow looking after her than Sonic.

"That's not for him to say!" she shouted restlessly, hearing Shadow 'hmph' from the hall.

Also, if Amy sat in this seat any longer, she was going to go mad and so she hopped onto her well foot and slipped the crutches that had been discarded against the wall onto her arms before following the other hedgehog into the hall, wincing with every hop she took, even without the foot in plaster touching the ground.

* * *

Sonic chewed his lip continuously, awaiting the opening of her door, his eyes ready to see either of the two, no matter how surprising. That was Shadow through the window, right? His eyes weren't playing tricks on him? Amy and Shadow, surely that was impossible? Sonic clenched a fist. Why was he getting so worked up about the sight of them, it wasn't like this was completely out of the ordinary, and who was he to tell Amy who her company should be.

Still, that hedgehog, the crimson and ebony one, and caused enough unneeded chaos over the past few days. Unneeded worry for the cerulean blur. Sonic had to face that he wasn't exactly happy about Shadow's recent actions, he would have preferred it if the black counterpart hadn't have meddled, but then again, Sonic knew that Shadow was only trying to help and do the right thing, even if it contrasted with the dark one's personality greatly. Sighing, his fist relaxed at the thought of a well and healthy Amy, she was all that mattered, right? Right. He should be happy - In fact, he was happy that Shadow had tended to Amy, despite the stir in his emotions, he figured his inner agitation was just due to the amount of time waiting and searching while knowing nothing.

Maybe he just deeply wanted to see Amy's pink, healthy face, the happy glow in her cheeks like the old days, the glow that would come with the spring months; like in the past when she would have puck freshly sprung pink, yellow and white flowers, bringing him a bunch when she had finished her afternoon gardening.

Amy hadn't done that for two years now.

Sonic sighed sadly just as the door was slowly levered open, the seasoned, wooden rectangle moving inwards into the hallway. A smell of many fabrics and fragrances wafted out and reached his clear sense of smell, a pleasant smell that Amy had always had whenever she had strangled, or rather - hugged him in one of her common highly energetic embraces. It was a light, sweet scent than reeked of her dwelling and being, he found it lovely. The last time he smelt this was when she and he had briefly met up in _Starbucks _although it had been faint due to her constant distance. They'd barely walked side by side in the park either, all in all, he'd found the distance she'd put between them slightly unnerving. She hadn't seemed like the Amy he was used to, not in the slightest and he knew that this change was mostly his fault, he certainly wasn't blind or dumb.

His thought ridden mind cleared upon seeing the shady hedgehog filling the door frame and the cerulean-blur breathed through his teeth slowly. "Shadow, long time no see." he stated as he stepped forward a little bit, noticing the narrowing of the crimson eyes before him.

"Hmph. Yes. By exactly seven months and nine days." the black hedgehog then remained silent for a few seconds. Sonic only stood in await as he watched the slight twitching of the darker one's agitated face, knowing he crimson and ebony 'hog was going to add to his words. "What do you want?" he finally asked the blue-blur, voice gravelly and cold.

"I thought it would have been obvious, but anyway, can I speak to Amy?" Sonic said as carefully as he could manage, he was only met with a questioning look from the darker one as Amy soon appeared from behind his shoulder.

The darker hedgehog sensed her presence and without looking, he asked "Do you want to speak with him?" Normally he wouldn't have interfered, but he'd recounted her previous reaction of the realization that Sonic was at her door and he could successfully tell that it was a completely different reaction to what he was expecting and thus, he assumed something had went on between them.

"Uh... Of course, sure. Come in." she mumbled as Shadow stepped aside and allowed the blue-blur's sparkling emerald green eyes to finally fall upon the seemingly glum candy-pink hedgehog.

Wasting no time, Sonic's serious face lit up as he stepped inside. Shadow closed the door behind him as the cerulean hedgehog shot Amy a small smile, she smiled weakly in return.

"How's your foot?" Sonic asked softly, his eyes moving to focus on the cast fitted around her fragile foot, Shadow's eyes unconsciously moved to the cast as well while his ears remained tuned in, strangely the black-blur wished he could find a way to fix her injury.

"Okay I guess." Amy replied, her voice restricted while her eyes moved to Shadow, not wanting him to leave her side, once her eyes met his red orbs, she quickly directed her gaze back to Sonic. "How about we go into the kitchen?"

Sonic nodded. "Sure." Amy began to maneuver in her crutches and then slowly made her way into her kitchen, she let out a breath as she carefully sat down on one of the wooden chairs at the table. Sonic followed her and did the exact same, plonking himself down in the chair opposite hers. Shadow only reached the doorway and continued to stand there brooding, his arms folded as he gazed lazily out the window.

Spotting her hand resting on the wooden table top, Sonic stared at it in silence for a while. Amy continued to sit, not going to be the one to speak first, if Sonic had come to say something to her, then he should be the striking up the topic of conversation. Yet the blue-blur said nothing, instead a breath briefly caught in her throat when he placed a hand over hers. Her eyes widened at the unusual contact, feeling the heat radiating from his palm onto the top of her hand. "I should have been there to save you." he said, a slight solemness laced in his words. "I'm always there to save you, I don't know how I messed up."

She shook her head. "It's okay-"

"You don't have to pretend you're okay, Rouge filled me in on everything." Sonic said his eyes now filled with concern, Amy avoided the eyes, she always melted when she looked into those eyes. "I know you might not be able to walk again, ever. I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" she replied, her voice little.

"I'm sorry that I didn't prevent this." her heart beat sped up when he lifted her hand of the table and intertwined his fingers with hers.

Shadow watched Sonic's tiny action with a lot of thought, and watched Amy's reaction closely. He noticed the increase in the elevating of her rib cage, the flushed cheeks. It seemed she was still interested in Sonic the Hedgehog, but only showed it in a different way. The dark hedgehog noted that observing things was a great way to learn behavioral traits. However he failed to notice his own action, his eyes glaring at the intertwined hands. "... I'm leaving." Shadow said as he turned in the door frame, heading for the front door. He wasn't a fan of mushy stuff and cooing, and so he wasn't going to stay and suffer it.

Amy pulled her hand out of Sonic's grip and went to stand but was held down by a gentle hand placed on her shoulder, Sonic's hand. Still, she lent out of her seat to try and look at Shadow. "Where are you going? Will you be back?" she asked quickly, severely hoping he would return, she'd grown to like his company.

"My whereabouts does not concern you nor him." Shadow replied from the hallway, Amy's face fell when she heard the front door open, desperately wanting to leap to her feet and run after him, she cursed knowing that she couldn't. "But in answer to the second question, I guess so." there was a hesitant pause. "... I promised."

Sonic pulled a confused face and mouthed 'I promised?' to Amy. The candy-pink hedgehog smiled timidly back at him, a sort of sheepish-shy smile. "Bye Shadow!" she replied, looking away from Sonic, her farewell was met with the simple slam of the door.

"He's always been a master at greetings and farewells, you now that?" Sonic said sarcastically with a grin.

Laughing a bit, Amy replied "Yeah..." before chewing her lip anxiously.

Sonic only wiggled his eyebrows handsomely.

* * *

**I know, terrible chapter ending. I'm planning some mistletoe mishaps in the next chapter or two. I really want the Shadamy side of this story to pick up soon. Oh, it's my birthday in five days. Yay! :3**

* * *

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or anything related to it, rightfully belongs to SEGA.**_


	6. Depth

**Finally I've updated, sorry for the prolonged wait, I've been super busy but I really wanted to update before the end of this month so I found some time to write this, it was rushed so you may find some grammer mistakes and I apologise immensely for them. I'm a full blown Shadamy shipper now, through and through! I'd really like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter and everyone who has dropped one so far, I'm sure I've already said this but it's you who keeps me writing. I'd also like to thank all the people who wished me a happy birthday! It was great sixtenth! And that's perfectly A-Okay with me TwilighttheWolf, copy away! :D**

**So I give you another chapter of Iced Over, I hope ya'll like it.**

* * *

**Iced Over**

**Chapter 6 – Depth**

Per usual, the lake was as calm as ever. On his way there, the snow had began to fall and truthfully, the white flakes were beginning to sicken him. The dark hedgehog left giant rectangular prints with in the snow as he made his way past the lake, robin's chirping at his arrival while they hopped along the branches. Continuing on, Shadow kept walking until he reached the border, a beautiful semi-mirage of where the open lake area met the mostly coniferous woods and he travelled on deeper into the forest. People saw him as a guy who always thought no matter where he was, but ultimately here, in and around this lake and forest, was where most of his thinking came to conclusions, success and sense.

'What on planet Mobius am I doing?' he asked himself while in his thoughts, regretting the promise he'd made to Amy. He liked her, yes, but he wasn't sure how all this would play out, he wasn't even sure if he could keep it. He'd never agreed to spend so much time with a single person before either, Rouge being an exception- they really only ever met up on business terms. There was only one person had he liked in the same sort of way as he liked Amy and she had been Maria, and look where that had got him, Maria was gone... and it was at his expense. His fault.

He came to a halt in his tracks, realizing what he'd just thought, eyes widening a fraction. Did he actually just think that... Amy could replace Maria in a way? That he could grow to like her, become her friend? And that if did declare himself her friend, or if she were to declare herself as his, then would the same happen to her - would she be taken away from him just like Maria? He swallowed hard, tightening his jaw in frustration at these thoughts. Why were these even occurring to him. After minutes of sporting a look to of unsettlement, he shook his head subconsciously. 'No one will ever be like Maria. No one. I won't have to worry about anyone being taken away from me again, because **no one** will ever be like her or replace her.' he told himself, trying to scrap all the previous thoughts, angry with himself, but only achieved in seeing Maria and Amy standing side by side, both with that... warm smile. Squeezing his eyes shut, he forced the image to go away but it was only replaced by the horrible memory of the blonde haired, blue eyed human lying on the cold, hard and metal ARK ground with her body going into serious shock, a feeling of helplessness surfacing from within Shadow as he remember himself not being able to do anything in his power to help her. Maria's faint voice then echoed through his spinning head, '_Shadow, please. Be friends with them..._'

Red eyes snapping open, he let out a short breath and pulled a long one in, lungs expanding greatly. "That's what she wanted..." he said quietly to himself, the fog in his mind suddenly lifting, clearing it while his next path in life took shape, and he felt warmer at the remembrance of her guiding and purpose giving words. "She wanted me to help them, the people on this planet, and make friends with them... I must continue to look after the pink hedgehog. I will protect her."

Then at that exact moment in time, something clicked in his mind. It was all beginning to get clearer to him now, he was beginning to decipher these inner feelings, beginning to understand why he took this strange course of action towards this girl. Why had he stuck around and helped the unfortunate Amy? Shadow thought this: not only did honouring and respecting Maria's dying wish as well as his horrific reoccurring memories have an impact on his decision, but he had begun to understand that an abundance of want had played a part- wanting, as in a desire to help the girl. He'd took a special shining to Maria, indifferently, he'd also took a shining to Amy.

When the foggy wall of confusion in his mind collapsed, Shadow wasn't ashamed to admit that all this frightened him slightly, this connection forming between him and Amy was something new. Maybe, if his memory was clear and he'd been able to remember exactly how he'd established a friendship with Maria all those years ago, then maybe he wouldn't be having this problem, he would know what to expect.

Yet at the same time, he was curious, something that usually only occurred in certain situations such as solving mysteries involving a mission or researching new techniques to aid him in combat, curious as to where a certain route lead him or what a new type of robot was made up off. All technical stuff. Stuff around his job at G.U.N.

But no, this curiousness was different, Shadow knew that much. And he just knew that he had to be careful.

* * *

"- and then that's how I managed to get the turkey so late." Sonic said, Amy smiled and nodded politely as he continued on. "- then I'm putting the sausages used in the chilidogs into the stuffing and then stuffing the turkey with the stuffing before stuffing it all in the oven. It's going to be my idea of food heaven!"

"That's... a lot of stuffing. But my mouths watering just thinking about it, it sounds delicious." Amy said as she put her cheek in her hand, elbow sitting on the table, her smile effortless and completely natural, Sonic had to blink to stop staring at her uplifting face, for him, considering what he thought of her in the past, he found everything about it surprisingly beautiful, her face, he'd missed seeing it so much and he didn't feel the slightest bit of irritation upon seeing it anymore.

"Didn't doubt it. Hey you're still coming tomorrow, right?" Sonic asked, his mood perky. "With your foot and all, you'll need all the help you can get, with me around transportation will be a breeze and I definitely don't expect you to manage your own way over and back." he winked at her, it was rather swift, much like everything about him. "How about I pick you up and bring you back, it's the least I could do?"

Sonic noticed the girl before him shift uncomfortably in her chair as she turned to evade his vigorous emerald green eyes, her hand beginning to play with the cuff of one of the sleeves of her comfy, oversized jumper. Amy opened her mouth to say something but quickly closed it again as she shook her head to disperse her actions before she looked back to him. Sonic's bright face straightened, his eyes filling with confusion.

"I... I mean, you don't have to come..." he spoke, taken aback. Amy could tell from his voice alone that he'd saw her discomfort, Sonic was unusually perceptive lately. A sign of maturity? She considered it a possibility - and that was good news. That aside, she certainly didn't want him to think this was about him. In fact, she simply wanted to ask him a question, she just wasn't exactly sure if either two involved would say yes, but she'd really like it if they did say yes.

"No, I really want to! I'm definitely coming." she said while looking back to him again, eyes wide, smiling when she saw Sonic relaxing a little, his face brightening ever so slightly. "It's just..." she hesitated noticeably.

"It's okay, go on..." Sonic encouraged. Amy shook her head and internally laughed at her silliness, such a stupid and simple question tripping her up, although she didn't like asking questions for someone else... Especially when the other person hadn't even requested her to ask such a thing.

"Um... could Shadow come?" she finally asked. Sonic's eyes widened. Again, she was bringing the black hedgehog into this. Didn't she know Shadow at all? Why would he even come willingly? Although, even though Sonic knew the ways of Shadow the Hedgehog, he still didn't see why not. What harm could it do? Besides, they'd tried to get the dark hedgehog to come and hang out in the past, it never had worked, well, apart from Sonic's twentieth birthday but that was more of a coincidence, you know, with the Time Eater and all that.

He nodded and gave a shrug. "Eh. Yeah, sure. Why not?" a cheeky grin formed on his muzzle and he arched a brow before leaning forward in his chair, Amy getting an eyeful of his big and blue, handsome face. "You do realise that you have to run this by Mr. Sunshine first, right?" he said, voice amused.

She laughed at the use of Mr. Sunshine. "... I can, um, probably convince him." Amy said, her face becoming flushed, this seemed to be a frequent thing now, sweating palms and a hot face whenever she ever got too close to her perfect blue-blur, she just loved that feeling whenever she was around Sonic. Only when they were apart did she actually think about his actions, actually, more like over-think about them. Maybe one day she'll learn to live life as it comes and take things on with a more carefree attitude, that would be nice to achieve; then maybe everything would fall into place.

"Nah. That's probably the exact definition of impossible, Ames." he said coolly as he slumped back into his chair again, his grin levelling down to a smirk.

"Is not." Amy retorted, sure with herself as she looked Sonic dead in the sparkling emerald green eyes, secretly melting while she was at it. "He's actually a really decent and thoughtful guy once you strip back all those hard, crusty outer layers... And you know what? I'm really fond of him."

Sonic, eyebrows raising while he straightened up, replied with "You're what now?" He stared at her as if she were talking crazy talk. Did she just compliment Shadow, the Shadow he knew anyway?

"Yes, Sonic, I know I sound mad but... I know he's a big softie deep down, and I think we've kind of, you know, established that we can get along quite well." Amy replied.

"That's cool." Sonic reply after wetting his lips, trying to dampen the dryness of his words, Amy watched as the cerulean hedgehog then briskly got to his feet. "Well, I'd better be off. But if you need anything, don't hesitate to let me know."

She too, rose from her chair and sat on the edge of the table while dangling her foot in its cast. "Yeah, of course I will."

"Good." Sonic said satisfied and after weighing up the odds quickly, Amy soon found herself in a warm embrace, Sonic being the one to hug her for once, she successfully stopped the small gasp that threatened to escape her throat as she let him gently hug her. In complete shock, she returned the embrace, heart flipping in circles within her chest. They broke apart just as the corners of her vision began to blur, Amy guessed either her brain wasn't getting enough oxygen or she was just about to cry. "Hey and I hope to see you and Shadow tomorrow, okay Ames?" he then said, a faint red in his cheeks, though Amy was too far away in her own little world to notice.

"Huh?..." she said while blinking rapidly, her cheeks glowing healthily. "Oh, yeah. Definitely. Can't wait!" she said, recovering from her state.

"I'll see myself out, you don't need any more extra walking." the blue-blur said as he readied himself to leave, a lovely smile curving onto his lips. "Merry Christmas Amy."

"You too, have a merry Christmas." and then he turned away from her, within the next couple of seconds he'd flown out the door.

Amy sighed dreamily at his exit, she instantly missed his company. That encounter with him had been nicer and had went far smoother than she'd expected. Hopping onto her good foot, she slipped the crutches on her arms as she made her way back out of the kitchen, humming upbeat and quirky tunes to herself.

* * *

Nightfall would fall early as expected with the dense clouds rolling across the dimming sky, all low and swollen with many a snowfall to come. A white Christmas Eve meant a white Christmas Day, the perfect picture of Christmas - not that Shadow cared for that sort of thing.

The wolves howled in the forest as the sun was swallowed by the enlarging puffs of grey, indicating that night was really here, it wasn't exactly late, it was just that the days were short in the winter months. Robins hopped from the branches of the bare winter trees to fly to their cosy, little nests before settling down for the night. As for the small burrowing animals, they peaked out from their holes and saw darkness closing in and they too did much the same as the robin and the other winter woodland birds. While the forest began to sleep under a blanket of snow, other animals awakened. The wolves and the wildcats, the rare white snow-leopard that had made its way down from the mountains, hunted the sleeping deer and antelope, while many of the wolves had gathered in packs to howl at the moon if it showed tonight.

Yet one wolf had gone astray; she was a efficient lone wolf when need be, yet despite being more than capable of surviving on her own, she did belong to a pack, always finding her way back to it in the end. Her lost roaming was deliberate though, her scent had puck up a familiar person nearby. Snout in the snow, the wolf spotted a distant red glow in the darkness, the bare, eerie trees splitting it into a few separated and faded beams. Paws were padding closer and closer to the light.

The hedgehog leant against the tree, the black and red one, he stood with a red gem in his hands, the wolf's eyes reflected the red glow in her eyes. That gem, it was pretty. She managed to get closer and closer but the hedgehog didn't even acknowledging her, she grew annoyed at this. Wanting his attention, the hound launched herself at him.

Then in mid air, she was swallowed by a engulfing flash.

* * *

Hours had passed. Stopping in the middle of her movement, she stared at her bedroom floor. By now, the rose pink hedgehog was almost ready to accept that Shadow wasn't coming back, she sighed sadly as she sat on the edge of her bed half dressed, it had took a lot out of her to get up the stairs, and now she was getting herself into her nightwear. But she should've knew his words were just empty air, he'd probably realised what he'd gotten himself into and fled, after all, Amy knew how difficult and annoying she could be, she was pretty sure Shadow had got a taste of that.

Why was it now that she felt so alone? Even when she knew that people did actually care about her, at least somewhere . Only a few hours ago Sonic was downstairs hugging her and now she was feeling so lonely and isolated again.

About that, after having time to think, she thought that hug was probably to appease some sort of guilt he had. It wasn't out of the ordinary for Sonic to feel guilty over the suffering of others.

Now, having the space to think properly, she knew it meant nothing, it was just a small gesture that she was over thinking again. Come on, it was a hug, nowhere near a kiss, yet she put so much thought into something so small and insignificant, she was very aware that she put so much thought into **everything** Sonic did.

Amy threw her fluffy pyjama top aside and fell back onto her bed. "I need to get over my stupid obsession." she said aloud, too serious for her liking. "Sonic will never be mine." she paused, noting that the corners of her vision was blurring. "I should go out and meet new people... to a bar, a club. I might meet a guy better than Sonic..." Well, she was pretty sure that was impossible, but she could still believe and have a little hope. One day she hoped she'd wise up and just grow up, but it was easier said than done.

She was interrupted by a thump from downstairs, a crash and a howl... from a wolf by the sounds of things! She flew to sit upright, her green eyes widening. "Holy...?"

Downstairs, Shadow lay flat on the floor, a hand on his bumped head. He grunted as he climbed to his feet, getting over the faint pain quickly, his alert crimson orbs glowing in sudden colour before darting in the direction of the moving thing in the corner of his eye. The wolf stared at him, her tail between her legs as she growled loudly, unnerved by either his chaos control or the change of scenery. "How in hell did you get here?" the dark hedgehog barked unnecessarily. The wolf, feeling threatened at his tone, flashed her teeth as she growled further. "It's my fault now, is it?" Shadow said sarcastically in response to the canine's growls of warning, Shadow's words were pointless, the animal couldn't even respond. How stupid of him.

Storming off, Shadow turned his priorities elsewhere and began searching for the hedgehog he'd promised to look after. When he didn't find her anywhere, he muttered. "Faker." venomously under his breath. Then his eyes found the staircase and he frowned to himself, he'd overlooked a lot lately. "Amy?" he finally called up the flight of steps.

Amy surely heard him and scrambled to pull on her pyjama top."U-Up here!" she stuttered, puffing out a breath of relief when she managed to get the top on quick enough. Within half a minute, there was a knock. "Come in." and her door opened, Shadow not having the same problem as her; she reckoned it had took her half an hour to even reach the top of the stairs.

He peered in at her and she flashed him a delighted smile. Shadow breathed a calm breath at the sight of her, he strangely felt his heart make it's presence known at that moment.

"Are you okay?" he asked cautiously, in fact, unsurely, his red eyes running over her body, noting that she was now in her nightware. "I see you managed to make it up the stairs. Is the blue hedgehog now gone?"

Amy nodded. "I'm completely fine, thanks for asking." she said with a true smile. "Scaling the stairs was hard but I made it up here in the end, and Sonic, oh he was in and out in an hour. Where'd you go Shadow?"

"To the lake." he paused and looked down the hall to find the wolf at the top of the stairs. "... A wolf broke your vase." he added out of the blue, voice indifferent.

"What?" Amy questioned as she scrambled off the bed, into her crutches and to the door. Shadow stepped back to allow her to see Grey staring at them both, the wolf having calmed herself. "Awwwww." Amy cried. "Hi Grey! She's Grey, the same wolf from the woods, right?"

"I thought it would've been in your nature to have a problem with a wild animal occupying your home?" Shadow asked, rather confused.

Amy smirked adorably and looked over to him. "I've got big, bad you to protect me from this cute little wolfie. Besides, you two get on great!"

Shadow nodded blatantly. "I'm here to protect you, yes." he confirmed. "And yes, 'Grey' is one of the few animals I like."

"Then that's a really good thing." Amy said while her eyes sparkled happily, merely at Shadow's presence. "Hey, you hungry?"

"... I don't think I am... Are you?" he asked after a slight pause, unsure as to what 'hungry' felt like. Then it hit him, would he have to **cook **for Amy? Maria had taught him how to make pancakes and waffles, but that was all, he didn't think he'd even ate one. Besides, the recipe was rather faint in his memory and there was no way he could remember all of the measurements and.. Ounces? Was that one of the measurements Maria and he had used? He could only remember small snippets of the event too, unable to even picture or hear Maria clearly in his maze of memories.

Then, he heard it._ "And then you put the batter into this big, giant mixing bowl... and- Oh, Shadow! It's big enough to fit on your head!" _A overwhelming astonishment filled him, was that... Maria's voice resurfacing from his memories? He contained his shift in facial features quite well, yet Amy noticed his eyes brightening for some reason. Another benefit he'd discovered he got from being around Amy, she occasionally granted a long lost memory to bubble to the very surface of his mind, and he cherished it right then and there. He really wanted to thank Amy for that, but refrained himself, while rendering it unnecessary.

"Yeah, I've got a few tub's of ice cream in the fridge, do you want some?" Amy finally asked as Shadow looked to her, awaiting a response, his gaze seeming distant and unfocused. He watched her move and tilt her head, like the way Maria had always done, the pose were all her blonde hair fell to one side, except Amy's was pink hair and it was bit more stiff due to her hair actually being quills, but there was some swaying and he found it was just as pretty and Maria's. Why he was studying the pink hedgehog's appearance was a new question on Shadow's mind...

"Uh... Don't you want a proper meal?" Shadow questioned, his response lagging a little as reality managed to catch him up.

Amy pouted. "No way. I want ice cream." she said in a determined and childish manor. "Whenever I was little and felt sad, I ate ice cream, but if it was before dinner time then I wasn't allowed any... And now that I'm older, I can screw the rules." the girl grinned at her words and then shrugged. "My parents will be here tonight anyway, they'll no doubt insist on making me something... And I'm pretty sure that you can't cook either with you absorbing goo and all that. Besides, how hard could it be to cook with an injured leg, although the same couldn't be said if I had an injured arm..."

Shadow nodded. "You're right, I can't cook at all." he paused as he watched Amy smile amusedly before she began to slowly pass him with the adjustable metal poles aiding her walk. " - I will not allow you to go down the stairs on those." he informed her as he gently took loose hold of her forearm, the rose-pink halting in her movement, his voice had softened quite a bit with the interaction. "I'm here for a reason, you know." Right then, the pink hedgehog's heart skipped a beat in her chest, there was just something about the way he'd said those words, smooth, velvety, creamy, dark. Or maybe she was just wanted to believe that they sounded that way?

Amy slowly turned to look at him, glittering green eyes analysing everything about him closely, her heart beginning to pound, like it had always done with Sonic. It began to pound in her ears softly, a constant reminder that she was alive. With a hopeful breath, she asked, "Would you mind reminding me of that reason?" Usually, she'd ask such a question in ignorance, but this time, she asked it in pure curiousness, hoping to hear something interesting and satisfying, maybe hear a bit from a part of Shadow she didn't know. There was something lingering in the atmosphere between then, a feeling? A mood? Whatever it was, it settled her and noticeably soothed Shadow too, his outer exterior seeming relaxed. Amy recognised this but Shadow was still unaware of a lot of things.

His eyes met hers briefly, but his piercing orbs moved to look past her shoulder just as quick. "I've been thinking..." spoke Shadow, words slow, paced and being planned. "... About what you asked me back in the hospital."

Amy nodded and made a 'Uh-huh.' sound to let him know that she was listening.

"You asked me why I saved you. I said it was because of Maria..." he paused and focused on her again, her pretty green eyes observantly fixed on him in return.

"Yes, that's right. You did." Amy said, filling the silent gaps between his words, otherwise she would only hear an unwanted silence occupying it - something associated strongly with Shadow and she thought it was vital that Shadow didn't notice these long silences. In short, she really, really didn't want things to get awkward between them again, Amy figuring that one slip up or insult or misconceived view could set them back to square one... Not so much her but from Shadow's perspective.

"But... I want to inform you that I... think... I wanted to help you."

Amy smiled in slight delight and shyness at the same time. "Shadow, you're kind of confusing me..." she admitted sheepishly.

"I know I am. I'm confusing myself." he said, his usually hard and icy eyes lowering in frustration at his own confusion, aware that his words weren't exactly clear or blunt but the exact opposite. It was one thing thinking these words and planning what he was going to say but it was another saying them and Shadow wasn't satisfied with the way they'd came out. Amy laughed lightly, she had to admit it was this was cute, she was equally as touched at his attempt to share his inner thoughts and feelings with her - especially ones involving her and it made her feel privileged, acknowledged and the fact this was all coming from Shadow made it even more significant and special. "Genuinely. I think that was the word I was looking for. I think I genuinely wanted to help you."

"You don't 'genuinely' help other people?" she questioned, trying to disguise the humorous look on her muzzle with bafflement.

"Only in the act of right. Sometimes I don't feel compelled to help them."

Well, this conversation had took a strange turn. "So... what you're saying is that you would've left me to die if I were anyone else? Is that it?" Amy raised an eyebrow questionably, she wasn't really sure where Shadow was going with this.

Shadow closed his eyes as Amy's widened. "No. You have me mistaken. I would've saved your life and anyone else's for that matter, but me offering to stay in your home and aide you in your personal life was a genuine extra. I wouldn't have did that for anyone else therefore I wanted to help you."

Amy's sigh was from complete flattery as her breathing picked up, cursing the warm feeling spreading across her cheeks. "I didn't really expect you to either, and I really want to stress that I'm so thankful that you offered and even if you only stay for one day then I'll still be thankful. Okay Shadow?"

Shadow opened his eyes and nodded, a miniscule and relieved smile on his lips. "Okay." he spoke softly, Amy watched as his smile straightened again as his eyes drifted to the floor at her feet. "Amy, you also remind me of Maria." but he definitely wasn't going to explain that he was afraid of Amy dying because of him.

A small and saddened gasp escaped her lips. The way he looked to the ground as if he couldn't face her; he looked troubled and the pink hedgehog didn't like seeing him this way. Swallowing hard as the butterflies awakened deep in her stomach, she didn't know what else to do and so Amy took his hand into her own and gently gave it a fraction of squeeze. Shadow's eyes however didn't remain on the floor and instead they were forced up to her face, eyes wide as his body froze. She only stared bravely into his overwhelming red orbs and this time, she didn't fail in noticing the slight hint of red rising on his muzzle but whether this was from her making him uncomfortable, she didn't know. Instead, she just hoped for the best. "Shadow," she began after taking a deep breath and regretting the decision to take his hand immediately. But it was too late to take her action back now. "I don't know whether to be glad at the comparison... or sorry, because I fear I might be bringing back unwanted memories..."

Shadow found it hard to breath at her touch, he wasn't used to this and it was making him slightly uncomfortable, but what made it even worse was the fact he didn't want her to let go, he liked the sensation. It was new and different to anything else he'd felt before. Amy was so kind, so beautiful and... he gulped hard, beautiful? Something twisted in his gut when he realised he had to reply. "I, uh, no. Don't feel sorry. You're helping me bring back my memories."

Amy smile solemnly, now knowing that Shadow was far from over the events on the ARK. "Just know that you can always talk about it... about anything with me... I'll always listen." A warmth spread through her heart as she found herself receiving a squeeze in return from Shadows hand that was gently enclosed in hers, she was surprised to say the least.

"I appreciate it Amy. But I've talked enough now. Thank You." and Amy let his hand go at the words. The crimson and ebony hedgehog only stood and said nothing to her for a moment, he stared at her in a prolonged silence and she shifted while embarrassed under his studying stare, his face laced with a distant and thoughtful expression. Amy then found herself just admiring him, he was so handsome, so edgy, so fit. "You said something about ice-cream?" he then spoke, filling the silence.

Amy coughed awkwardly. "Oh yeah! I want some."

"Do you want some help down the stairs?" Shadow once again questioned.

"Well, you weren't really giving me a choice in the matter beforehand..." Amy said with a shrug, she unconsciously put a hand to her chest to feel her heart, it was racing.

"Very well." In the next couple of seconds Shadow had stepped behind her and scooped her up like a damsel. She blushed furiously as she felt the heat radiating out from his chest, and she felt the chest hair brushing off her arm. It tickled! And she also noted she could get used to this... no matter how awkward the situations could get.

* * *

It was now a few hours before midnight, the fire crackled and sparked heartily as Amy was curled up on her couch with a blanket wrapped around her body, pink eyelids closed as she breathed lightly in her sleep, the blanket courtesy of Shadow. Said dark hedgehog was sitting in the single sofa, staring into the red Chaos Emerald as the warmth radiating from the fire made him feel weary himself. This was nice. Right now, if this were last year, he'd be on a mission, traipsing about in the freezing cold with his likely partner being Rouge, the bat didn't really feel for this type of year either.

As for Grey, she'd stayed a while before her animal instincts took over and Shadow had found her clawing at the back door to get out, probably to hunt. The crimson and ebony hedgehog decided to let her roam free again, not seeing any reason why not and so he opened the door for her. After fleeing the house, the wolf had then disappeared into the many trees at the back of Amy's garden, never to be spotted in the forever darkening night.

Both of the hedgehogs were startled when the doorbell rang suddenly, disturbing the silence as the sound of the burning fire was overpowered by the unpleasant noise. Automatically, Shadow got to his feet.

Amy's eyes slowly flickered open. "It's my parents, don't scare them." she said, a half joke in her drowsy state. With a yawn following her words, she sluggishly pulled herself upright as she snuggled deeper into the fluffy brown blanket, hugging it close to her chin.

He sighed. "I'll try." Shadow said before disappearing, Watching as his quills disappeared with him, Amy couldn't help but feel so content, she liked Shadow a lot and Amy guessed he was a lot different than Sonic, social and attitude-wise. Whereas Sonic was easy to embarrass when it came to one on one conversations, not liking intimate talks and stuff and preferring being the centre of attention, Amy was finding Shadow a lot different; he was far better with one on one conversations and even when they got awkward, he still prevented himself from noticeably squirming, he preferred them over boastful rants in front of lots of people, and although he'd proven to be arrogant and big-headed in the past, she'd noticed a lot of things she'd over looked before, like his dedication, obedience and his ability to be gentle. Shadow wasn't at all what she initially expected. Sighing, she wished Shadow could stay with her forever, but who knows? Who really knew what he was like: There seemed to be so many levels to Shadow the hedgehog and Amy was fascinated over this, she was growing an attachment to simply finding out more and more about him: This was what made Shadow, Shadow. But something in the back of her mind nagged on and on saying that he'll leave in the end, just like Sonic always had.

Two middle-aged hedgehogs' stood on Amy's front doorstep with snow dancing around them. Amy's father, Mr Rose, was light beige in terms of fur colour and had a tanned muzzle, his quills were short and spiked. He also had green eyes just like Amy and he wore a cross-hatched professor jacket with brown patches on the elbows. However, it was clear that Amy was more like her mother. Mrs Rose had pink fur but it was far darker than Amy's rosy-pink colour, she had brown eyes and her muzzle was a light cream, her dark-pink quills were actually quite long and brushed off her middle back section. Unlike Amy, she preferred to wear bottoms and so she wore a white buttoned blouse tucked into some dark brown, wide legged trousers.

The door before them eventually opened and Mrs Rose raised an eye-ridge at who she saw before her. Amy's father squinted his eyes in confusion, clearly his wife having not told him about anything Amy had said over the phone.

"And who might you be?" the elder male asked unpleasantly, not liking the sight of Shadow.

"I'm Shadow the Hedgehog." Shadow replied rather dryly. "I suspect you're Amy's parents, come in." Turing his back on them, he briefly motioned a hand for the two to follow him in and they did, not having a choice. Once they were inside, they followed the dark hedgehog into the living room and found their daughter sitting comfortably on the couch, face glowing as the flame of the winter fire was reflected in her eyes.

Glancing between the pair and Amy, the crimson hedgehog pondered over what he should do next. "Shall I leave?" he asked Amy, all eyes falling on him as his deep voice once again resurfaced.

* * *

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or anything related to it, rightfully belongs to SEGA.**_


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